Megaman: When Stars Align
by Megaman Trigger 2.0
Summary: Set after Shadow of the Stars. A single word still bothers Chaud Blaze to this day, "EVE", and as strange blackouts spreads and powerful viruses emerge, the team hopes to learn of the cause and find out just what "EVE" is.
1. Chapter 1

~Chapter 1: Radiance

Sir Kane sat in his private helicopter, bound for a large business building just on the outskirts of town. The businessman, as he thought himself to be, growled in anger at the group of young men and women he had just left at his base.

Years of planning and hours of work had been completely destroyed by mere children! His entire organization was on its knees, their plans discovered and its members dying in rapid succession. Not only was Dark Aero being destroyed by the "heroes" Lan and Megaman, but it was rotting from the inside out by traitors like Tyrell and Ambika!

His entire life's work was gone, everything Sir Kane ever had worked for was destroyed…by children!

Fueled with pure hatred for those who had destroyed his work, Sir Kane ordered the pilot to fly the copter faster, unable to stand being near his headquarters and watching it crumble in the dust.

As the copter raced faster and faster across the Netopian skyline, a young Electopian Official by the name of Chaud Blaze was hanging on for dear life. Having hurled himself onto the copter to try and stop Kane, he had unfortunately become stuck on it, flying hundreds of feet above the ground.

The single fear of falling was all that coursed through Chaud's mind, and he was one who wasn't scared of much. A single slip and he would fall…down…down…down…SMACK! He didn't even want to think of it; of course he would already by unconscious, most probably dead, before he reached the inevitable SMACK on the pavement below.

Instead he focused on where they were going, hoping that he may be able to map out a way to chase after Kane with the backup of the Netopian Officials. As he looked around, trying as he might not to look straight down, he saw that they were quite far from the city itself, yet he could still make out the Dark Aero headquarters in the distance.

As the copter slowly began its descent for a landing, Chaud began to loosen his grip on the metal railing. If they were about to land he wouldn't have to worry about falling!

But wait, if they were about to land he might be seen!

Panicking, Chaud slowly began to move himself around the copter as it reached its destination. Just as the copter started its landing sequence did Chaud find a hiding place, hanging upside down underneath the cockpit of the chopper itself.

Chaud shrank backward as he saw a black shoe, and then the end of a cane; touch down on the grey helipad floor. Sir Kane was getting out of the chopper, slowly, and he then made his way toward a group of three men in black suits, all of which Chaud could see from under the chopper, upside down of course.

One of the men stepped toward Sir Kane, wearing a neat black suit.

"Welcome back Master Kane. I am happy to report that everything is ready for your departure for Sharo."

"Very good," Sir Kane said with a smile, moving toward the door leading to the staircase. "And what is the progress on the laser, back at base?"

The group of men stopped, two of them turning to the one near Kane.

"Well?" Sir Kane asked, after a moment of silence had passed.

"…I'm afraid, Master, that…the lazer, as well as Iblis and the other Dark Aero members you left behind at the base…have been….."

"Yes?" Sir Kane asked, impatient for the answer.

"…Terminated." The man squeaked out, sounding like a mouse running in terror from a house cat.

Sir Kane sighed, and pulled on the end of his staff, revealing a slender sword built into the handle. Slowly he pulled the blade fully from its sheath and he pointed it at the man.

"So, you're telling me that years of planning has failed…all because of a group of stupid children?"

"…Y-Yes sir."

"How unfortunate…for you!" He yelled, taking the blade and slicing at the man.

The man didn't scream, he didn't have time. Sir Kane's blade had been finely honed, and so had his skills with said weapon. In one clean stroke he took the man's head off, only a single bit of blood defacing his clean blade.

He took the handkerchief from his suit pocket and wiped the blade down before returning it to its place, concealed in his cane once more. Slowly he glanced at the other two men nearby and smiled.

"So, any other news to report?" he asked with a chuckle.

Together, he and the other two men made their way down the stairs. But as they walked on, Chaud picked up one sentence that haunts him still.

"Is EVE still online?"

The man responded to his master, but Chaud was unable to make out the sentence.

_What is EVE?_ Chaud thought.

It was that thought that haunted him as he climbed into the Netopian Officials chopper and met up with the group. The thought still haunted him during the party at Maylu's, and even still weeks later.

Chaud vowed he would find Kane, and bring him to justice for his crimes. As far as Chaud was concerned, everyone that died and was hurt during the fight with Dark Aero should be placed on Kane's conscience. It was Kane's fault that all of it had happened anyway, and Chaud wanted to make sure that he paid for it…each and everyone.

_Is EVE still online?_

It was those words, that single word really, that Chaud was searching for on the Net. His navi Protoman was searching through hundreds of millions of flies, looking through each thing that related to the word EVE, trying to see if Kane was connected.

However, with the day before Christmas being called Christmas "Eve" it was only natural that the search results were related to such holiday.

Chaud hadn't told anyone about EVE, not even the Officials, not even his friends. He didn't really know why he was doing it, but he was going to take Kane on, one on one.

Yes it was stupid, but sometimes stupid ideas turn out better than those thought through.

After a while Chaud spoke, his voice echoing around the room, the room happening to be a small room inside SciLabs, a room given to him during the return of Dr. Regal.

"So, Protoman…found anything yet?" he asked dully.

"Not yet sir, but I have found quite a few sale brochures for Christmas products."

Chaud smiled. "You can skip over those; I've had just about enough of the holidays of late. I'm just glad that Spring has came back."

"Not fond of the cold?" said a voice, one that did not belong to Chaud nor Protoman.

Spinning around in his chair, Chaud came face to face with Dr. Yuchihiro Hikari, renowned scientists and father of Lan Hikari.

Dr. Hikari was a nice man, and Chaud didn't mind his intrusion. However he didn't want the doctor to see what he was doing, so he clicked off the monitor on his computer and smiled at the doctor.

"So, what was that you didn't want me to see?" Dr. Hikari asked with a chuckle.

"Nothing…it was nothing…" Chaud said, looking away from the doctor's gaze.

Dr. Hikari smiled. "Oh well, it's none of my business, and you don't seem eager to share. The reason I came down here was to ask you if you've heard about the blackout in Sharo."

Chaud's senses perked up. "Blackout in Sharo? I hadn't heard, what happened?"

"It seems that something, or someone, caused a huge electrical failure. All at once all of Sharo was in the dark, and the Net went completely offline. They're still trying to fix things, because of all the damage. But the strangest thing of all was that nothing was stolen from anywhere! One would think that with a blackout like that it would have been the heist of the century, with no police being able to track them down."

"Do they have any idea what caused it?"

"Not a clue. All that they know, is that right before the whole continent went offline, there was a _huge_ energy serge from an old abandoned factory just outside of the town major."

"Did anyone investigate?"

"Of course. Nothing was found, spare some broken ceiling tiles and a bunch of old machinery. The thing that worries me, is that just after that Netopia's lights started to dim. The Net in Netopia went offline completely for a few hours yesterday, and they almost had a fallout like Sharo!"

"So whatever it is, it's spreading…"

"Right." Dr. Hikari said with a nod. "Well, that's what I had come to tell you, so I'll leave you to your work, whatever it may be. I'll be in my lab should you need me."

"Thank you Dr. Hikari." Chaud said with a smile.

The doctor turned to the door, scanned his eye in the retina scanner, and stepped out the door. As the door slid to a close behind him, Chaud turned back to the computer and restored the monitor. Protoman was still sifting through data, and seemed to not have even heard a word of their conversation.

_If there's a worldwide blackout coming…what's causing it? Maybe it has something to do with this EVE thing…_

"…Protoman." Chaud called with an business-like tone.

"Yes sir?"

"…Add this to your search; World Wide Blackouts …see if anything comes up."

"As you wish sir…"

_Just what is going on around here?_

~Chapter 1: Radiance


	2. Chapter 2

~Chapter 2: The Adventure Begins

The planet Earth, in the year 20XX, is made up of many countries, each one with its own unique qualities. From Sharo, a chilled region of never-ending snow, to Netopia, a vast country of a seemingly endless city giving homage to its medieval past, each area of the world is different. Yet life in these countries is a collective thing, fueled by the strength of the planet itself, and there are those who would stop at nothing to destroy the stability of the planet…and those who would save it.

The world, mainly the countries of Netopia and Electopia, where still recovering from a worldwide danger that had just passed. Maddened by the world's reliance on technology to do everything, a powerful man named Kane took hold of an even more powerful organization and threatened to punish the world for what he called the greatest sin of all. Some say he was an evil man, destined for prison. Others say that he was a savior, coming to show the people of the world just where they had gone wrong. No matter what the people said however, his plan did almost succeed…almost, if it were not for a young group of children and their Net Navis.

Fighting in both worlds, real and Cyber, they defeated the sinister organization of Dark Aero, revealing their true colors to all the world to see. The only mistake they made was not catching the man responsible for the entire organizations running's, Sir Kane.

After the event, which became called "The Dark Aero Incident" authorities all across the globe searched for Kane, but he has still not been found. Peace has returned, and the items he once used as weapons, the crystal comets, taken and once more hidden away under lock and key, but if any good could have came from Sir Kane's attack on the world, it was the discovery of a new power…the power to control the elements themselves.

Megaman EXE, the net navi to that of Lan Hikari, stood in the center of ACDC Square. The blue navi and his operator in turn, had not a thing to do for the day, and had decided to spend it in the square chatting with their friends.

The square was always a busy place, and today was no exception to that rule. Crowds of navis surged up and down the area as they all went to and from their daily chores. ACDC Town had become a little hive of activity due to a special dance being held at the school.

The dance, the official name being The Spring Dance, was a normal occurrence for the school, as it happened every other year. Each time the dance came around the students of ACDC Town fell into a buzz, unable to contain the excitement. The dance was only a month away, and the Square was full of activity because of it. Really the only navis not fighting their way through the steady tide of people where Megaman and his friend Roll.

Roll EXE was the navi of Maylu Sakurai, the next door neighbor to Lan and lifelong best friend. Practically since birth the two of them had been friends, and so in turn Megaman and Roll also became good friends…though there were moments where the two navis were a bit more.

Megaman, though a usually courageous and outgoing person, was nervous. What was he nervous about? Well, getting a partner for the school dance of course…and he had only one person in mind.

Megaman turned toward Roll with a smile.

"So, Roll, what are you and Maylu going to do this weekend?"

"Oh nothing much, maybe some shopping…why do you ask?"

Megaman blushed slightly and smiled. "O-Oh, no reason…I was just wondering."

Roll giggled. "Is there something you're hiding Megaman?"

Megaman flushed. "N-No nothing!"

…_I really want to ask her to the dance…but how? What do I say?_

Roll leaned toward Megaman with a smile. The pink navi opened her mouth to speak, but all that she let out was a sudden scream as the Net was rocked by an explosion. The entire area flashed, and the earth itself seemed to shake uncontrollably.

Roll started to fall forward, and Megaman quickly grabbed onto her and pulled her against him for safety. The tremors continued for a few more moments, the lights of the Network dimming, until at last everything returned to normal. The crowd of navis suddenly broke, scattering in all directions, some navis jacked-out, while others ran screaming in the other direction.

Roll glanced upward at Megaman, her face buried in his chest. Megaman was holding her tightly against him, and looked at her with great concern.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Y-Yes….I'm fine…" Roll said with a blush.

The two remained pressed against each other for a moment, until a small screen flashed into life with Lan and Maylu's faces on it. The two operators giggled at their navis, and smiled.

"Hey! Megaman, Roll! You two alright down there?" Lan asked, knowing he had interrupted them.

Megaman and Roll both broke away from each other, blushing furiously.

"W-We're fine Lan. Just what was that?" Megaman asked, glancing around the area. He had gathered himself rather quickly.

"I don't know, but it came from Area 2…"

Megaman turned back toward Roll with a smile. "Lan and I are going to go check things out," he said, speaking more to the group as a whole then to Roll.

Maylu turned to Lan. "Alright, the usual then…Roll and I will jack out and stay put."

"Be careful Mega…"

"I will Roll, I just hope that explosion was nothing…"

And so Megaman's new adventure began….


	3. Chapter 3

~Chapter 3: The Power of Stone

The Net was in pure chaos, as navis ran frantically from area to area followed closely by long strings of viruses. Lan and Megaman had fought viruses all their lives, and where use to seeing many of them at once, but this was a new sight for them both. Almost every inch of the Net area was covered in viruses!

The usual host of viruses, Mettaurs and Cannodumbs where present of course, but along with them was a host of strange looking viruses, they where black as night, and slightly resembled a spider. Each one of the little creatures had small cannons mounted on their backs, and would march a few paces before firing small black grenades that would immediately burst into flames at the first thing they touched.

Megaman gasped as he saw the flood of viruses moving throughout the Net, and he saw that quite a few navis had already started fighting back against the hordes of creatures. It was his duty to help, after all virus busting was one of his and Lan's favorite activities.

"Lan! We have to help these guys." Megaman said, firing a few charged buster shots at the spiders.

"I was thinking the same thing. Ready Megaman?"

"Ready!"

"Mini Bomb battlechip in!" Lan yelled, taking a small battlechip from the case at his waist and sliding it into his PET's card reader.

In a matter of mere seconds the chip was read, and a strange blue light started to emit from Megaman's hand. Megaman held his hand open, and a small round blue grenade faded into place in his hand. With his weapon ready he gave it a great toss, and the bomb sailed through the air ahead of him.

The tiny bomb landed directly in the center of a huge army of spiders, and blasted into pieces. Smoke and flames engulfed the area around its destruction, and Megaman watched for the smoke to clear, smiling to himself.

"Yeah, we got 'em!" he exclaimed, knowing that viruses that weak would be destroyed easily by the blast.

However, he was wrong….

As the smoke cleared, Megaman was shocked to see the army of spiders had been untouched, and continued their march toward him. All the bomb had done was infuriate the creatures, and they turned their attention to him in a flash.

"Uh-oh…not good." Megaman said, backing away from the spiders as they moved toward him.

It took only a few seconds for the spiders to surround their target. Megaman stood alone in a sea of black spiders, each one of them trained on the blue navi. He only had one choice; there was only one thing to do…the Control System.

Megaman closed his eyes, and began to breathe deeply. The new ability that Megaman had gained, thanks to the Control System, allowed him to stretch out and take hold of the elements around him, and use them as weapons. If the spiders couldn't be defeated by the power of a battlechip, then perhaps the Control System could work.

Megaman turned his attention, not to the spiders, but to the floor of the Net Area itself. Concentrating on the ground itself, Megaman pulled the energy from it. At first there was nothing, and then the panels of the nearby area began to glow softly. The light grew greater and greater, until it slowly began to move out of the panels itself and became a small ball. Megaman took the ball in his hands, and his body began to glow.

The panels of the Net Area, the "earth" of the Cyber World, flowed into Megaman's body. In a rush of energy, Megaman opened his eyes to see his body had changed. His body suit was a dull grey, a deep brown stripe running down his side. This brown color matched his helmet, gloves, and boots respectively. He even wore a chest plate from a suit of strange armor made of stone.

The power of earth was at his command, and Megaman knew just what to do. Focusing on the group of spiders to his right, and more importantly the panel underneath them, Megaman thrust his hand upward. The power of the Control System obeyed, and a huge spike of earth shot upward, impaling each of the spiders nearby, and launching them into the air. The sheer magnitude of the attack caused the Net Area to shake, though it was already shaking slightly so the blue navi took no notice of it.

One by one the spiders that had been launched upward began to fall back down, and upon crashing into their fellow viruses, blasted into oblivion. The army of spiders, and all the navis nearby, watched this in awe. After the attack had finished, the spike lowered back into the ground, and Megaman turned to another group of spiders and smiled.

It was then that the strangest thing happened, at least strange by virus standards. Viruses exist for the sole purpose of destroying all those they see and touch, and therefore do not think, only fight. But these spiders, and not just the ones around Megaman but ALL the spider viruses, turned away and marched back from whence they had come.

A retreat was something that viruses NEVER did! They where mindless destroyers, and therefore had no mind, no willpower…so why did they run?

Megaman sighed deeply, and his body burst into light once more. When the light faded away, he had relinquished the power of earth, and had returned to normal. Silence filled the air for a few moments, before the navis nearby burst into applause. Cheers could be heard all the way back to the Square, and Megaman smiled slightly, though more embarrassed then proud.

"Wow…Megaman you did it!" Lan yelled.

It had been two years since they had gotten the Control System, and Lan had forgotten what it really did. They had only used it a few times, to help rebuild the Net after the fight with Dark Aero, and a few times to help out the people. But Dr. Hikari had strictly forbade the frequent use of the system, claiming that it was just too powerful…and potentially dangerous, not to mention that it could attract…unwanted attention.

The army of spiders converged into one massive clump, and then suddenly vanished…admitting defeat. Navis all around the area slowly began to emerge from their hiding places, and walk the Net freely again. Whatever it was that had brought the spiders there was of no concern to anyone, as life had returned to normal already.

Megaman looked up at Lan and smiled.

"…I love this thing! But…do you think Dad will get mad when he finds out?"

Lan sighed. "I hope not…I don't want to get yelled at again."

Megaman opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut off by a yell in the distance. Turning toward the voice, the blue navi saw another navi, a pink one, running toward him. Roll came dashing toward him, and stopped just short of him.

"Mega that was great!" she said, slightly out of breath.

"You saw it?"

"Duh! Everyone saw it! We could see you all the way back in the square…well, we could see the spike of rock at least, but we knew it was you!"

Megaman laughed. "Well, thanks Roll…but I only did it to get rid of those spiders."

"What do you think brought them here?" Roll asked, stepping toward Megaman.

"…I don't know Roll…I don't know…"

The two navis smiled, and walked off toward the Square once more, Roll telling Megaman all about the fight. As the two of them marched away they never became aware of the navis that where watching them from a higher area.

Standing on a platform of bright yellow panels, just above the lower Net Area, where three navis. Each navi was different in appearance, but all held the same crest on their shoulders.

On the right stood a tall green navi. His body suit was a deep grey color, stripes of white running down each side. He wore a large armored breast plate of deep green, gilded in brilliant gold. The same design was on his legs and arms. He had normal hands, his right arm able to morph into a buster, same as any other navi. His boots where the same design as his legs, but instead of feet he had large talons. Two large wings of pure gold stuck out from his back, and his head was shaped to resemble a falcon, a pair of bright yellow eyes peaking out over a gold beak.

In the center of the group stood a navi in a blue suit. He closely resembled the design of Megaman himself, though he wore armor much like his falcon counterpart, however colored blue. He wore a normal looking helmet, his smooth green hair poking out and draping over his right eye, which where a bright blue color.

The final navi, standing on the left, wore a suit of deep brown. Most navis armor suits where made of normal looking plate mail; however this navi was an exception to the rule. His suit was linked together by intertwining rings of deep brown and grey. He wore a tall helmet, one looking almost like the hat of a pharaoh; it too was a deep brown color, a large red crystal set in the center of it. The navi had no legs, nor feet for that matter. A large ring was all that there was, and it caused him to float. Set inside this large ring was a slightly smaller ring, and then finally a third. These rings kept him airborne, and where a strange sight to see. His eyes glowed a deep crimson, as he cast them upon Megaman.

The falcon turned to his fellow navis. "So…that was the power of the Control System master talked about…what do you think of it Terra?"

The navi in the center responded, a dark smile on his face. "It was just as I had hoped it to be Jupiter, a source of never rending energy…"

The third navi, the one made of rings, laughed. "If you ask me," he said, his voice a heavy Netopian accent, "that Control System is just a bunch of smoke and mirrors."

"Now, now Saturn, don't get too cocky. Remember, this Megaman has the power to ruin master's plans." Terra said with a smile.

"I will believe the power of it when I fight against it…"

Jupiter sighed. "Very well then…I believe it is time for us to report back."

"No need…I'm sure Specter can tell Master for us…" Terra said with a chuckle.

Just as he had said that, Terra's shadow began to move. It moved strangely, becoming a three-dimensional being. It stood up, and was standing directly behind Terra. Two bright red eyes peaked out, and a large toothy grin covered his face.

"…Oh, don't worry, I did." He said, before vanishing into a cloud of nothing.


	4. Chapter 4

~Chapter 4: Silent Revelations

Dr. Yuchihiro Hikari sat in a black leather chair in his office, staring intently at the computer screen. Streams of data went flying by on the monitor, and the doctor watched each one, writing down pieces of them as they went through. He was alone in his lab, and actually enjoying the peace and quiet.

It had been two years since anything dangerous had happened in the world, aside from the normal every day things like robberies and murders of course. Nothing had threatened Net safety, and nothing had really threatened the safety of the human race either. The doctor, for once, let his mind wander to the conclusion that maybe, at last, peace had return to the world…he was wrong.

In a sudden clamor of sound Dr. Hikari's door came flying open, a scientist standing in the doorway, breathing heavily. The man dashed into the room, causing Dr. Hikari to turn toward him for a moment.

"Hey! What was that all about, you could have broken something!" the doctor yelled, speaking of the large glass case just outside the door.

"I'm very sorry Dr. Hikari, but there is something you must see."

With that the doctor stood, and the men exited the room. Standing on the second floor, the two men looked out over a huge crowd that had gathered in the lobby. The entire group was shouting questions, trying to make their way further into the building. A group of Officials where holding them back, and Chaud was at the head of them. He turned toward the stair, and sighed when he saw the doctor.

"What's going on?" Dr. Hikari asked, moving down the stair toward Chaud.

"All of these people are looking for answers." Chaud said, not looking away from the crowd.

"Answers, to what questions?"

"The question of what is happening to the Net."

Dr. Hikari sighed. "Alright, slow down…did something happen?"

Chaud turned toward the doctor, surprise written across his face. "You mean, you don't know?"

"Know what!" the doctor yelled, becoming angry at not receiving a straight answer.

"…You should see this…" Chaud said, holding out his PET toward the doctor.

Dr. Hikari took the device in his hands and looked at the screen. He could see Protoman standing there, with six different news reports playing around him. Each one showed reporters all around the world, talking about a never ending army of viruses.

One of the reports, that of Electopia's very own news station, showed footage of navis being attacked by an army of black spider-like viruses. It showed the army moving all across the Net, destroying everything it saw.

"W-What is this? What's going on?" Dr. Hikari stammered, looking to Chaud for an answer.

Chaud chuckled. "Take a number doctor, all these citizens want to know the same thing…"

"…the army of viruses, which seems to have originated from somewhere in the Sharo region of the Network, has thus far engulfed Electopia, Netopia, and Sharo. The viruses seem to be immune to all forms of navi weaponry. Officials for each region encourage all people who do not have to be on the Net for business reasons to jack-out and remain away from the Net until this crisis is controlled…once again this has been Ribbita reporting for DNN news…"

A man, wearing a black suit, grabbed a remote from his desk and clicked the TV screen off. The room became eerily silent for a short time, before the man turned his chair toward the north wall of windows, looking out over the lab far below.

The room below was filled with activity, men in black uniforms rushing all about, looking like ants against the pure white floors of the lab. Created for the sole reason of research, the area had become much more popular since its new management. Operating in secret, it had no allegiance to any government of the world.

The walls of the lab where covered in computers and printers, spitting out information at a break-neck pace. Huge cords stretched across the floor of the laboratory, connecting all the equipment to a sole item in the center of the room, a large black stone.

The stone, roughly the size of horse, sat in a large glass case. The stone, black as night, was streaked with large violet streams of crystal. It was no ordinary hunk of rock, as it seemed to pulse slightly, letting off a deep violet glow throughout the lab area.

The man in the black suit, sitting in his office chair, turned slightly and pressed a button of his phone. There was a quick beep, and a female voice answered on the other end.

"Yes sir?"

"…Send in Specter…"

"Right away sir…"

The silence continued for a few more moments, until it was broken by a ping from the elevator. The two doors slid open slowly, and a man in a black suit brought forth a small PET. He placed the PET on the desk, jacked it into the man's computer, and then exited the room.

There was a beep from the computer, and a black mist slowly downloaded into the computers network. The navi, called Specter, was nothing but a cloud of black mist with two blazing red eyes, cut roughly on his face.

"I am here…" he said, his voice filling both the computer and room, however no mouth had moved.

"You said you had news from the field my friend…how fares the operation?"

"It is going as planned sir…the spiders are making their way across the major Net Area's as we speak, and will be in place within a few days."

The man smirked. "Your plan is working Specter…though it is taking much longer than I would have liked."

Specter chuckled, though it sounded more like a raspy cough. "Did you doubt me?"

"…I did…I whole idea of your existence filled me with doubt…"

"As you can clearly see, I am here, and my work does have an effect on this world. I must say, these humans are so much fun to toy with."

The man turned his chair toward the screen, the light illuminating one side of his face. His hair was a deep grey, and a large scar stretched down the side of his face, a black patch covering his eye.

"What do you think…will the plan work?" he asked, a frown on his face.

"Yes, I think it will…I have met up with this Megaman you have told me about…he is as strong as you have said."

The man's face grew dark, and he growled slightly. "Megaman….damn that net navi…it was because of him and his stupid friends that my plans failed before. I will not let him interfere again!"

Specter laughed once more, his voice bouncing around the room. "Do not worry, I have a perfect way of eliminating the fool, if you would allow me the honor of meeting him in person."

"…Are you sure you want to do that friend, he is quite strong."

"Relax Kane, I can handle him…after all, I already know his weakness."

Sir Kane leaned back in his chair, a dark smile stretching across his face. "Very well, you may test him…I will move on to phase two of our plan."

"Good, then I shall take my leave…"

With that the navi ported away, off into the Net itself.

Sir Kane turned toward the window once more, and slowly pulled himself from his chair. Clutching tightly a walking stick, he made his way toward the window. He smiled down at the stone on the lab floor.

"…So Megaman…can you handle the spawn of the Devil himself? This will be a most interesting battle to see…I can't wait for it to begin…"

Sir Kane, the madman whom Megaman had fought once before…had returned.


	5. Chapter 5

~Chapter 5: E.N.D.

One day…it took only one day for the army of viruses to cover every inch of the Network. No area was safe from their gaze; no navi was safe from their destruction. One by one, every town in the world declared a state of emergency. In short, the entire Network was shut down.

No navis could jack-in and none could jack-out either. Only the Officials where allowed access to the Network, and even they stayed away from it. At first it was just the core Network that became infected…but slowly it spread to individual appliances, computers, and all other electronic devices around the world. One could even use a blender safely anymore!

Lan Hikari sat on the edge of his bed, his PET in his hands. He was nervous, and more scared than that. On the bright side school was closed…but so was everything else. Until a way of defeating large amounts of the spiders could be found, the entire world was at a standstill.

Dr. Hikari had called, with the news that he wouldn't be allowed to leave work until someone found a way to end the crisis. So Lan was home, with naught a thing to do. He couldn't battle anyone, fight viruses, or anything! For once he had actually done his homework, so now he REALLY had nothing to do.

Mrs. Hikari had suggested that Lan take the time to play soccer outside, or maybe go for a stroll around town…but even that wasn't safe anymore. Security systems in homes, cars, and businesses had gone awry, and it was dangerous to be out and about. The entire town was on a lockdown, no one in…out…or on the Net. It was like the world was coming to an end…

"…Well…What happens now?" Lan asked, looking to his navi for advice.

"I don't know. If there was just a way to kill these things, then maybe things would be better…"

"Yeah…but if this keeps up who knows what will happen…"

The air was still in the house, which made Lan jump when his PET pinged to signal that he had received an e-mail.

_Who would send a e-mail to me now? Maybe it's Dad with an update!_

Megaman chuckled. "I don't guess I have to tell you, you have an e-mail."

Lan smirked. "Yeah, yeah, I know…just read it."

Megaman turned away from Lan, and looked into the depths of the PET area. He reached over to a small button with a letter on it. When he pressed the button a small message appeared on the screen above him, and he read its contents to Lan, even though his operator was reading it as fast as he was.

"It's from Maylu…it says:

Lan, Megaman, you have to help!

Roll and I got into an argument earlier, and she stormed off onto the Net without another word. I've tried calling her, but she won't answer. The Net is too dangerous right now, please, you have to find her!"

Lan jumped up from the bed. "We have to help!"

"You're right…" Megaman said, with a sigh.

Lan, who had started to move toward his computer, suddenly stopped and looked at his PET.

"I-I am?" he asked, his face slightly red.

"Well yeah! Roll is out there with those crazy spiders on the move, if she gets attack…or lost…we may never see her again. We HAVE to help! What, did you think I was going to say no?"

"Well it's just that usually, when I try to do something dangerous, you try to talk me out of it." Lan said with a chuckle.

"It doesn't matter now, Roll's out there! We have to help, we're the only ones who know. If we try to get the Officials to do it we may never hear from them."

"Y-Your right…let's go!"

_Roll…Oh, why did you do this? It's too dangerous!_

Megaman ran through the empty areas of ACDC Town, searching for the pink navi. The army of spider viruses took quick notice of the blue navi, and fired round after round of shots at him. Jumping, sliding, and diving Megaman dodged each shot directed at him.

It was suicide trying to fight the things; even with the Control System he would never be able to defeat every one of them. The force that attacked the Square earlier that day was nothing compared to the army that he now faced. There was hardly enough room to run, and as he did whole groups of the viruses where knocked off the platforms and fell into the abyss below.

Luckily he was fast, fast enough to dodge their attacks. Only a few times did he have to fire his buster, but really it was just to attract their attention toward the shot and away from himself. The spiders didn't seem to have sight; instead they tracked movement through sound.

Through the first area, and into the next, Megaman searched frantically for his friend. It was when he arrived at the ACDC Town Square that he once again had hope. As he made his way into the square he heard a female navi scream somewhere in the distance. A scream meant trouble…but it also meant she was alive…for now at least.

The Square was in ruins, large chunks blown out of the various buildings in the area. Using these as shortcuts, Megaman made his way toward the voice. It was then that he saw her, lying on the ground with a dark shadow standing over her.

"Hey! Get away from her!" Megaman yelled, aiming his buster at the navi.

The shadow turned toward him and held up its arms.

"I-I'm unarmed…please, don't shoot!" the navi yelled, a man.

Megaman stepped toward him, not lowering his gun. The navi before him was clad in a dark grey body suit, and wore a suit of black armor. The navi strongly resembled that of Megaman himself, only he looked older and wore inverted colors of black, grey, and red. His right arm was a long sword, and he had two blood red eyes.

"I thought you said you where unarmed." Megaman said, pointing at the long sword.

The navi stammered. "P-Please forgive me sir, but the sword it not retractable…"

Megaman moved toward the man, and he backed away. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The man took a deep breath. "My name is…is…Tec! My name's Tec." He blurted out, seeming to be searching for his own name.

Megaman took no notice of the man's speech problem, as he was kneeling by Roll. She was unconscious, but as far as he could tell, unhurt.

"I was searching the area for any navi's still jack-in when I found her. She had her back turned, and when I came up to her I must have startled her, for she fainted." Tec said, stepping toward him.

"Thank you Tec…this may sound odd, but if you hadn't caused her to scream I wouldn't have been able to find her."

"Oh, well then I'm happy to have helped…by the way, may I ask your name?"

Megaman lifted Roll off the ground and turned toward Tec. "My name's Megaman, and the girl you helped me find is my friend Roll."

Tec's eyes narrowed. "You say your name is Megaman? Well, it is an honor to meet you."

"Thank you, but I need to get Roll someplace safe." Megaman said, starting to walk away.

"Well then, please allow me to be of service. You see, the company I work for is not that far from here. We are safe because we have found a way to destroy the spiders."

Megaman skidded to a halt. "Y-You have!"

"Yes, we have. Please allow me to more formally introduce myself Megaman. My name is Tec, fourth in command of the E.N.D., the Earth Natural Defense Team. We have researched these viruses and found their only weakness, and plan to eradicate them as soon as possible."

"Really, how?"

"We have a machine that can emit a special energy that can destroy the viruses, but we can't use it until ALL navis are offline."

_So that's why everyone's on lockdown…_

"If you would Megaman, please come with me. I'll take you to meet my commanding officer; he may be of some help."

"Thank you Tec, you are too kind."


	6. Chapter 6

~Chapter 6: Pulse

Tec led Megaman from area of area, the duo jumping to dodge most of the spiders. Never had anything like this happened to the Net, at least not to where they weren't stopped quickly. Each area they passed through showed more and more of the viruses, and Megaman thought back to the news report…perhaps this army was never ending…

After making their way through ACDC Area 3, Megaman slowed his run. Tec noticed this and quickly came to a stop.

"What's wrong?" he asked, out of breath himself.

"Just how far are we going?"

"It's the next area, don't worry."

Megaman paused. "But…there aren't any more areas this way."

"Yes there are, you're forgetting Star Hill."

Megaman's face fell. Star Hill was the Net Area associated with the organization Dark Aero, and their plot to punish the human race for their reliance on computers. He had hoped to never again go to Star Hill, but it seemed he had no choice.

Running down the path of blue tiles, the pair skidded to a halt outside the gate to Star Hill, a large door in the shape of a star. Tec raised his sword into the air, and with one powerful swing sliced the door in two. No one had been able to break down that door, and Tec did it as though it was nothing!

Megaman stared in shock for a few moments, before Tec signaled him to follow.

_Just who is this guy?_

Thus far, each Net Area was covered in the black viruses, however Star Hill was not so. Not a single virus walked it's halls, and instead there stood a whole group of navis, running around and issuing orders. In the center of the area stood a navi that resembled a falcon, and next to him stood two navis in black uniforms.

Everything and everyone bore the symbol of E.N.D., the planet Earth with the letters wrapping around it. No one took notice of Megaman and Tec as they walked inside, and they continued their walk into the area, moving straight toward the falcon navi.

Megaman looked around the area in fascination; every inch was covered in machinery and people. He could only hope that this cure that E.N.D. had would work…

"Excuse me, Commander…" Tec said, walking up to the falcon.

The navi, who was much taller than Megaman and Tec, looked down at them. "…Who is this Tec?"

"Commander Jupiter, I would like you to meet Megaman. I brought him here for a safe place to stay during the firing sequence."

Jupiter looked Megaman up and down, but mostly stayed fixed on the pink navi in his arms. "What is wrong with her?"

"She fainted…She can't jack out until she wakes up, and I didn't want to leave her." Megaman said.

Jupiter smiled, if a bird can smile. "Very well then…you may stay, just stay out of my way."

With that the commander pushed past Tec and Megaman, and made his way toward one of the machines.

Megaman sighed. "Real friendly isn't he…"

"Just wait till you meet Captain Mars, he's even worse." Tec said, leading Megaman toward an area lined in yellow reflective lights.

"What's all this?"

"This is the safe zone, as long as you stay here the shockwaves won't be able to effect you." Tec said, turning away from Megaman and moving toward the Commander.

"W-Wait! What about you?"

Tec stopped quickly and spun around. "Huh?"

"What about you, won't the shockwaves effect you?"

"What? Oh! No, all E.N.D. officials have on a special suit that is immune to the effects of the shockwaves. You just stay behind that line, and everything will be fine." Tec walked off in the distance, leaving Megaman and Roll alone.

Megaman, not looking away from Tec, spoke softly.

"…Lan…Something doesn't feel right about all this."

"I know what you mean, but what can we do?"

"….Nothing…we can do nothing except wait and see what happens…"

A few minutes passed, and the crew at Star Hill became even more excited. They scrambled all around the area, shouting orders at each other. As the time drew on the lights of the Net Area began to dim, then flash a sudden color of bright red. A siren began to scream, and Megaman glanced around franticly.

Tec came running up to Megaman, a smile on his face.

"Tec! What's going on?" Megaman asked, standing up from the sitting position he had taken on the floor.

"We are about to fire the Pulse Cannon, once it sends out its waves all the spiders will be destroyed."

"Just what does the cannon do? How does it do it?" Megaman asked, becoming all the more skeptical of this E.N.D. organization.

Tec swallowed hard, a bead of sweat running down his brow. "Y-You know I don't really have any idea…but another of our operatives, Dr. Mercury, should have some idea. Problem is, he's not here today…"

Megaman stepped forward. "Just who are you people? I've not heard anything about you before today, not even a news channel knows of you!"

"We like to keep things under wraps…" Tec said, turning away from Megaman. "But don't you worry, everything is going to change…real soon."

Megaman was about to go after him, when he heard Roll moan from behind him.

Practically throwing himself to the floor, Megaman moved to her side. The pink navi, whom he had placed on the floor near him, was lying there looking up at him, her eyes just beginning to open.

"M-Mega? Is that you?" she asked, her voice weak.

"Hey Roll, it's me. You alright?"

"Yeah…what happened?"

Megaman smiled. "You fainted…just what where you doing, running around on the Net like this! You could have got hurt! You could have died, Roll!"

A single tear rolled down her cheek as she looked away from Megaman. "I'm sorry…."

Megaman sighed. "No…I'm sorry Roll…this whole time I've been so mad at you, mad at making me so scared. Don't ever do anything like this again…please."

Roll smiled. "I'm sorry to have made you worry Mega…"

The two navis stared deep into each other's eyes for a moment, letting a peaceful calm settle over them both. Megaman was just happy Roll was ok, and he let the simple fact of her safety wash over him. Roll was his friend, his best friend…he didn't know what he'd do without her.

Suddenly there was a deafening blast of sound, and Tec came running forward.

"We're about to fire the cannon! You two stay where you are."

Megaman helped Roll off the floor and they both turned toward the activity just over the yellow line. The time had come, to see if this E.N.D. really was going to help.

A horrible screeching sound filled the air as the cannon charged up for firing. The sound got louder and louder, until it was the only sound anyone could hear.

It was because of that loud humming that no one heard Megaman as he screamed in pure pain. It felt like hundreds of needles had just punctured his body and where ripping him apart. The only one who noticed his pain was Roll, and she screamed for help again and again…but even Tec, who stood just across the line, couldn't hear them. The pain continued, until at last the blue navi fell to the floor, unconscious.

Roll continued to yell for help even after her friend fell to the floor, but then it was the blasts of the cannon as it fired that filled the air.

Two shots flew from the cannon, to large streams of purple energy. The energy sailed high into the air, until bursting into pieces like a firework. A rain of purple energy fell all across the Net, coating every virus there was. The spiders immediately, upon coming in contact with the energy, shattered into hundreds of bits of data and where gone.

The crowd cheered, as peace had returned once more.

As the cheering slowly faded away, it turned to gasps as the entire area became apparent of Roll's screams. Tec and Jupiter quickly turned around to see Megaman lying on the ground, with Roll over him.

The two ran forward to help, but by that time Megaman was completely out cold…


	7. Chapter 7

~Chapter 7: Shadows

All around the world streams of purple energy coated the Network, fired from different locations all over the Net. The spiders were destroyed, and the Net was once again in peace. Yet everyone was asking the same question, just what, or who, did it? Who was their savior?

To answer the call, every channel aired the same news reel, a worldwide announcement from the Chairman of E.N.D. Mr. Bellbridge.

Mr. Bellbridge was a very clean man, clad in a black suit. His hair, a deep grey, was kept hidden by a black fedora. He wore clean black gloves, and spoke in an almost raspy voice.

"People of the world, I would like to introduce to you both myself, and my organization, which is responsible for the eradication of the plague of viruses that has shut our Network down. My name is Bellbridge, I am the lead Chairman of the E.N.D., and it was by our work that peace has been restored. We have been researching these strange viruses, a strain of them impervious to all attacks, and through this work we have created the Pulse Cannon, a weapon that emits a powerful blast of electromagnetic energy. The shutdown of the Net, and the forced evacuation by security officials all around the world, has been to ensure the safety of all net navis, as the blast would harshly effect them. We of E.N.D. would like to thank you all for your cooperation, and would like to say that we will not stop until we find the cause of these viruses, and destroy them once and for all…"

Dr. Hikari, who was once again sitting in his office, stared at the TV screen in shock. He and Chaud had been talking about the viruses at the time of the blast, and couldn't believe that it was true. The Net was clean again!

"…So this E.N.D. is the ones responsible…" Dr. Hikari muttered.

"I'm glad they came to the rescue and all, but why not inform us of this before the event…not after." Chaud said, standing up from the couch.

As Chaud moved toward the TV, going to turn it off, he heard Bellbridge speak once more…and the words made his blood run cold.

"…This operation of destroying the viruses, codenamed _EVE, _has been the focus of all our work."

Dashing toward the TV, Chaud punched the volume up and then rewound the footage.

Dr. Hikari rose from his seat. "What are you doing?"

"Listen!" Chaud said, playing the recording again.

"…This operation of destroying the viruses, codenamed _EVE, _has been the focus of all our work."

The doctor stepped toward the TV. "Yeah, so?"

Chaud sighed. "…There's been something I'm keeping from you doctor…from us all. When I escaped from Dark Aero, I heard Kane…talk about Operation EVE."

Dr. Hikari paused, frozen in place. "…A-And you think that…"

"Bellbridge is Kane!"

"You have no proof. You can't make a case against him without proof Chaud, you should know that."

"…Then I'll find some. I'm telling you, Bellbridge_ is_ Kane!"

With that Chaud rushed out of the room. Dr. Hikari started to move after him, making it half way across the room before his desk phone started to ring. As he picked it up the panicked voice of his son greeted him.

"Dad! There's something wrong with Megaman!"

"Mega, stop!" Roll yelled, diving to the right to avoid a buster shot.

Megaman had somehow been knocked unconscious during the firing of the cannon, and when he came to he started attacking everyone he saw. Not even Roll was safe…

Megaman was screaming in pain, one hand clutching onto his head, the other was transformed into a buster and fired at anything that moved…which was quite a bit as the entire area was thrown into chaos by his outbursts.

It had happened suddenly, he had jumped up from the floor, screaming. In a matter of seconds he had already shot the place to pieces, and a group of navis was trying to restrain him when he really became violent.

Tec grabbed hold of Roll's arm, pulling her slowly away from Megaman. Roll resisted him, trying to force her way forward.

"MEGA!"

One navi grabbed onto Megaman's hand, and quickly regretted it as he was greeted with a kick to the gut, and went sprawling to the floor. Again and again Megaman fired his gun, crying out in pain the entire time.

Jupiter stepped toward Megaman, the only one in the entire area that wasn't scared out of his mind. Slowly he walked up to the navi, until Megaman took notice of him. With a powerful cry, Megaman let out a charged shot that slammed right into Jupiter's chest. The flacon, much stronger and larger then Megaman, was pushed backward by the blast.

"…That is quite enough." He said, his hands transforming into shard claws.

Roll, knowing what he was going to do, dashed forward. "NO! Don't hurt him!"

Jupiter glanced over his shoulder. "This man is mad! He must be stopped before he destroys us all…and if it means deleting him, then so be it."

Roll dived toward Jupiter, slamming into his back. The larger navi wasn't expecting this, and lost his balance. As he fell to the floor, pulling Roll with him, he stabbed himself with his own talon.

Jupiter rolled onto his side, growling at Roll. Quickly he stood, grabbing Roll by her throat and lifting her off her feet. He tightened his grip of the pink navi, causing her to cry out.

Megaman, who heard this cry, suddenly dashed forward at an alarming speed. He slammed into Jupiter, knocking the navi to the ground. The two men rolled around for a moment, before Megaman got the upper hand. Sitting on Jupiter's chest, Megaman punched the larger navi again and again, his eyes blazing a deep red.

"STOP IT!" Roll screamed, diving at Megaman.

The pink navi slammed into her friend, pulling him to the ground. Roll lay on her back, staring up at Megaman. Megaman, her best friend, pulled his hand back and was about to hit her. Roll looked him in the eye, his eyes like blazing red flames.

"Megaman…please…don't…" she cried, tears streaming down her face.

Megaman froze. He tried his hardest to bring his hand down, but he couldn't. Something was stopping him, but what was it?

Roll slowly raised her hand to Megaman's face. She lightly touched his cheek, which felt icy cold. She smiled at him slightly, tears still running down her face.

"Megaman, it's me, Roll! Please stop this; you're hurting people…your hurting me…"

Megaman slowly pushed himself off Roll, his eyes seeming to shake as tears ran down his face. He raised a hand to his eye, wiping away a tear. The blue navi stared at his hand in question, almost confused of the tear that had slid down his face.

"…R-Roll…" he whispered, staring at the girl on the floor.

It was then that a powerful amount of pain surged through him, stronger than that of what he had felt during the cannon's firing. He opened his mouth to cry out, but no sound emitted. Instead he fell to his knees. A strange dark shadow slowly lifted out from his body, a steady stream of violet mist seeping out from him.

The stream of darkness stretched upward, moving higher and higher, until it suddenly burst into nothing. With the cause of his behavior gone, Megaman collapsed and fell into a deep sleep.

Roll pushed herself off the floor and walked over to Jupiter, who now had a large gash on his chest. The two navis looked toward where Tec had been, who was now gone from sight.

"Alright…what the hell is going on here?" asked a voice.

Everyone turned to see Protoman, the net navi of Chaud Blaze, standing in the doorway. He had seen everything…


	8. Chapter 8

~Chapter 8: Awakening

Lan, Maylu, and Chaud all three stood in the office of Lan's father, who was also present. Upon the collapse of Megaman, Roll and Protoman helped the blue navi to the SciLabs network. The navis at Star Hill did nothing to stop them, as they were actually glad to be rid of Megaman.

The cannon blasts had indeed worked, as there was not a single virus on the Net all the way to SciLabs. At least something had worked, if not without a punishment. Dr. Hikari sat in his chair, glued to the screen, he and a group of scientists where running tests on Megaman, who was still unconscious.

The blue navi was strapped to an examination table with special rings, to ensure that a repeat of the Star Hill incident didn't happen again. Roll stood next to Megaman, her hand firmly grasping his own. Protoman was standing a fair ways away, propped against a large machine.

"…How did this happen?" Dr. Hikari asked, the first words anyone had spoken in a long time.

"It happened during the cannon firing, Megaman was fine one second then he was screaming the next. He passed out, and when we tried to wake him up…this happened." Roll said, not looking away from her friend.

"You were with him, correct?"

"Yes, I stood next to him. We were standing in a safe zone…at least that's what Tec told us."

Dr. Hikari turned toward the children, who stood just behind him. "Who is Tec?"

"Tec is the navi that found Roll passed out in the Square. He led Megaman to Star Hill…" Lan said, staring past his father at the screen.

The doctor leaned back in his chair. "…The test results keep showing the same thing, an unusual amount of strange mystery energy. The energy is more powerful than anything I've ever seen before…it seemed to have charged his abilities, making him stronger…but in the process, crazy."

"Can he be fixed?" Roll asked, looking at the doctor. Her face was that of a scared child, and she was shaking slightly.

Protoman stepped away from the machine and walked up behind Roll. He placed a hand on her shoulder, which seemed to calm her somewhat.

"As I said, I've never seen anything like this…" the doctor said with a sigh.

"Wait…if Roll was standing near Mega, than wouldn't she be exposed too?" Maylu asked, looking between her friends and the doctor.

Dr. Hikari smirked. "You're smart Maylu…I thought of that as well, but the tests showed nothing."

"So this strange energy takes hold of Megaman at the same time the spiders are destroyed. He goes nuts and attacks everyone, and quite possibly the navi responsible, Tec, is gone." Chaud said with a sigh.

"Yeah…just another wonderful day with people trying to kill us." Lan said, slowly sitting down on the couch.

Maylu eased into the seat next to him and smiled. "Don't worry Lan, your Dad will fix it…"

Lan turned toward her quickly, anger building up inside him. "How do you know! He said he's never seen anything like this! What if Megaman…what if…"

Dr. Hikari stood from his chair. "That's just it Lan. Right now we are doing nothing but asking questions. What we need to do is find answers, and to do that we need to study Megaman. There are traces of the energy still in his system, if we let him go he may become violent again."

"Dr. Hikari is right," Chaud said, turning toward the sadden young man, "All we can do is wait…and hope."

"In the mean time, I suggest you kids go home and get some rest. It's been a long day."

Lan stood up, with Maylu at his side. "…I don't want to leave Megaman."

Dr. Hikari sighed. "Lan, please…go home."

Maylu grabbed onto Lan's hand. "We're no help here Lan, we'll only get in the way. Let's do as your Dad says and go home, he can take care of the hard part."

Lan walked forward, up to the computer screen. He put his hand on the glass and sighed.

_Megaman…what's happening?_

Maylu picked up her PET and started to jack Roll out when the pink navi squeaked.

"H-He's waking up!" she yelled, looking franticly between Megaman and the doctor.

The whole group rushed forward to the screen to see their friend. Megaman groaned slightly, slowly opening his eyes. As his eyes slid open the first sight they saw was Roll, smiling down at him.

"Hey…" Megaman said, his voice a whisper.

"Hey…" Roll said, smiling at him.

"Megaman! Are you alright?" Lan asked, leaning across the computer panels.

Megaman turned his head toward the screen above him. "Y-Yeah…I just feel funny…what happened?"

"You don't remember?" Protoman asked, stepping up to the blue navi.

"No…I remember Tec saying that the cannon was about to fire…and then this horrible pain came over me, like I was being cut from the inside out. The last thing I remember was fainting, with Roll running over to me."

Dr. Hikari smiled. "Well at least your conscious, that's good."

Megaman looked down at his feet, noticing for the first time the restraints. "Uh Dad…why am I tied up?"

"For your own good."

"W-What's going on around here?" Megaman asked, looking around to see that Lan, Maylu, and Chaud where all staring at him.

Dr. Hikari turned to a man at his right, who pressed a large red button on the control panel. A screen flashed into life above the navis, who all looked on to see a recording of Megaman during his maddened attack at Star Hill.

Megaman watched as he pulled his hand back to hit Roll. He watched as he was about to hit her, when he suddenly started screaming.

"TURN IT OFF!"

The entire room of people jumped, and the man did as he was told.

"T-There is no way that was me…" Megaman said.

"I'm afraid it was Mega…" Roll said, tears rolling down her face.

Suddenly a siren began to blare, as Megaman jerked away from Roll. His body began to glow with the same dark mist as before, and it took a matter of seconds to wash over him completely. Roll cried out, trying to back away, but Megaman grabbed hold of her arm tightly, so tight that it began to bruise.

The darkness spread over Megaman, and continued off his body and down the table. The violet mist floated into the floor, and spread all over the area. As it did large sections of it began to collect, and form their own shapes.

Protoman grabbed hold of Roll, tearing her out of Megaman's grasp, as the blue navi began to laugh madly. Everyone watched in terror as he tore off the table, breaking the so called indestructible rings holding him down.

The mist that formed around the room collected around Megaman. The shadows that had formed shapes suddenly leapt out, revealing their form.

The spider-like viruses had returned…


	9. Chapter 9

~Chapter 9: Master and Puppet

Protoman backed away from Megaman, pulling Roll with him. The violet mist continued to flow from Megaman's body, creating an entire army of black spiders all around the room. The air was so thick with the mist, that it became hard to see.

Megaman's eyes burned a deep crimson, and his arms seemed to dangle uselessly at his side as he shuffled toward the red navi. Each step he took, so did his spiders. The entire room was under his command, and it acted on his will.

Roll screamed, a spider jumping out at her. Her red friend slashed at it with his sword, and was surprised to see it shatter. These viruses could be destroyed…but why couldn't the others?

Megaman growled, seeing his child be defeated. "You really think you can defeat me that easy?" he asked, his voice echoing around the room.

"Megaman stop this at once!" Dr. Hikari yelled.

The blue navi glanced upward at the screen and smiled a toothy grin. "Shut up you stupid human!"

Megaman's body flashed a bright light, and when it died down he was wearing the same suit of stone as he had worn we he fought the spiders. With a single movement a spike of stone shot upward, destroying the screen above him.

Dr. Hikari cursed, falling back in his chair.

"MEGAMAN!" Lan yelled, but it was too late. The destruction of the screen had cut off the link between the computer monitor and the net area. The screen went black.

Megaman chuckled, turning his attention once more to Protoman and Roll. "Afraid they can't help you now…" he said, moving closer to them.

Protoman lashed out with his blade, a warning. "Stay back Megaman! I don't want to fight you!"

"Of course you don't! You hate to lose!"

Tears streamed down Roll's face as she watched her friend move toward them. "Mega…what are you?"

Megaman grinned. "I am me, of course. What a silly question."

"This is not you Mega! This isn't right!"

"How do you know? Maybe I've just been lying all this time!"

Protoman chuckled. "Well that's a weak defense Megaman. Really, you've been lying all these years!"

Megaman growled. "Shut up already! I'm not talking to you!"

Megaman's body flashed of white light once more, and when it died down he was wearing a bright red suit. A large ring of fire was around his feet, and his hands where blazing with red flames. With a powerful punch a ball of fire hurdled toward Protoman, who had to dive to avoid it.

As Protoman dived to the left, he landed in the mist. The violet clouds quickly grabbed hold of his body, and the spiders marched toward him.

Protoman tried to stand up, but the mist was holding him down like a lead weight.

"H-Hey! Let me go!" he yelled, trying frantically to get up.

Megaman burst into laughter. "Good, now maybe you'll be quiet for once!"

Roll burst forward. "Megaman stop this!" she cried.

"No!" he yelled back, the darkness around him growing thicker.

A dark laugh filled the air, but it didn't belong to any of the three navis. The laugh grew and grew, at first being distant but in the end being close. Megaman turned toward the center of the room and smiled, as the darkness folded together in the form of another navi…or at least, that's what Roll thought it was.

Standing, or really floating, in the center of the room was a large shadow. The navi resembled that of the virus Shadow, but without the wings…and with red eyes instead of yellow.

The figure had no mouth, yet sound did emit from it. He looked down at Megaman, who knelt on the floor before him.

Roll watched Megaman kneel to the shadow, and stepped forward.

"Who are you?"

The dark shadow laughed. "I think you know me by the name of Tec my dear."

Roll froze in her place. "W-What? Tec was a navi! Your nothing but a shadow!"

"This is my true form…my name is Specter, and your little friend here is my friend now."

Back in the real world, everyone stared at the computer in horror. Thanks to Megaman's efforts they had lost the visuals, though with all the violet mist there wasn't much to see. However the audio was coming in clear, and Lan growled as Specter spoke.

"Specter! You let Megaman go!" he yelled into his PET, knowing it was a link to where Megaman was.

Lan's voice emitted from behind Megaman, and Specter chuckled.

"Ah the humans…I had almost forgotten about you." Specter said.

A sound like fingers snapping echoed throughout the area, and Lan and the others cried out as wires from within the computer lashed out and grabbed hold of them. The wires tightened their grip, grabbing hold of their arms and legs. The tighter the wires squeezed the more painful it got. If this kept up the wires would either cut off their circulation, or slit their wrists and legs.

"STOP! PLEASE!" Roll yelled, running around in front of Megaman.

Her friend was staring up at her with a dark grin. "What's wrong, aren't you having fun?"

"Megaman…snap out of it!" Roll cried, slapping Megaman across the face.

Megaman was hit hard enough that his head turned away, but he remained knelt on the floor. Immediately after Roll did it she shrieked, her hands raising to her mouth.

_Oh my God what did I just do!_ She screamed to herself.

Megaman slowly turned his head back toward her and growled. "You shouldn't have done that…"

The blue navi stood up, grabbing Roll by the throat. He slammed her back against the table and slowly began to tighten his grip. Roll choked and squeaked, trying to get any air in her that she could. Her hands flew to Megaman's, and she tried to scratch his hands away from her, but he only squeezed tighter.

When Roll was just about out of air Specter let out a laugh.

"That is enough Megaman, let her go."

Megaman released his grip on Roll, and she fell to her knees coughing and gasping.

"Why are you doing this to us? Let him go!" Lan cried, the wires suddenly twisting on his arms, cutting into his skin.

"SILENCE!" Specter bellowed.

"I have searched the Net for over two years now, looking for a suitable host for my power …and I've found it. Your friend Megaman here just might be strong enough to survive the process…"

"H-Host! What a-are you talking about?" Roll gasped, rising off the floor.

Specter chuckled. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm afraid I have to go…I have a schedule to keep you know. Come Megaman, Sir Kane is waiting for us."

Megaman rose and started to walk toward Specter, when a sudden blast of light caused him to stop. The two dark navis turned to see three navis staring back at them.

Their names Megaman knew all too well, for he was friends with them.

Specter wailed in anger.

"You haven't seen the last of me." He said, his body slowly breaking into dust.

Megaman suddenly cried out and fell to the floor. The violet mist rushed back into his body, pulling the spider viruses along with it. Once the mist was back in his body Megaman fell into a deep sleep.

Protoman pushed himself off the floor, and Roll moved toward him.

In the real world the wires that had shot from the computer unraveled, and fell to the floor uselessly. Everyone was free, and things returned to normal in a flash.

The three navis who had saved them stepped forward, and smiled at Roll and Protoman.

"Hey guys…long time no see."

The three navis that had saved them where Demonman, Crain, and Suki…


	10. Chapter 10

~Chapter 10: The Eye of the Storm

Two years had passed since Dark Aero took power, and began their plan to destroy the Net. During the Shadow of the Stars tournament, created as a cover for Dark Aero's investigation and capture of the Crystal Comets, Lan and Megaman had to fight each member of the organization. At first this group of young men and women were doing their jobs, but as the fighting drew on, and Sir Kane revealed his intentions, the members of Dark Aero betrayed their company, and joined Lan and Megaman.

Tyrell, now a young man of twenty, could be seen on a small screen above the Net floor, next to him stood Lucia and Zack. Lan could remember when he first met Tyrell, and had to admit he was slightly intimidated by the older man. But despite first impressions, and the fact that Tyrell's navi lost to Megaman in the tournament, Tyrell became a close friend, and a great battler.

Lucia, a slightly timid girl, had really made an appearance when her navi helped Megaman try to rescue Roll from Iblis during the attack on the tournament grounds. She was a smart girl, and very confident in her believe in her friends, and that together they could stop anything.

The final hero that had came was Zack, a young man that had to be around Lan's age, if not a few years older. It was thanks to Zack that Chaud had been rescued from the helicopter ride with Kane, as Zack was an Official for Netopia. Zack also played a big part in transporting the group to the Dark Aero HQ, as he was the only one out of the group that knew how to pilot a plane.

Their navis, Demonman, Suki, and Crain, where the latest heroes though. It was thanks to them that Megaman hadn't been taken with Specter.

Roll and Protoman smiled at their friends as they walked further into the area.

"It's so nice to see you all again!" Roll said shakily, still affected by the events that had just passed.

Zack's navi, Crain, smiled. "It's nice to see you guys too…only; I wish it was in better circumstances."

"Not to sound rude, but what are you three even doing here?" Protoman asked, looking at the three navis collectively.

Zack took the liberty to answer, and his face took up the screen above the navis. "When the viruses started to spread around the Net, I was sent by the Officials to check out how far they had spread. While I was checking everything out I saw Roll being attacked by Megaman. I knew something was up, so I called Tyrell and Lucia, and we all three followed you guys here. When I got a huge energy reading from in here we rushed in to see what had happened…and from the looks of it not a moment too soon."

Lan, who could see everything from his PET screen, smiled. "Well it's good to have you all back…"

Sir Kane stood from his chair, looking out the glass wall at the area below. The large comet in the center of the room was pulsing slightly, the strange purple energy slowly cascading across the floor of the glass case that held it in place.

On the man's computer behind him stood a collection of navis. Jupiter, Terra, Saturn…and a fourth navi. The new navi was a girl, clad in deep purple armor. She had soft pink fur covering most of her body, bar her hands, feet, and face. She had long nails made of sharpened steel and quite pointy looking teeth. Her eyes where a deep purple as well, and held the key to why she looked so different, they where cats eyes. As well as these slanted, every watchful eyes, where two pointed cat ears on the top of her head, sticking out from the top of her helmet. The final touch, was a long tail protruding from her back end, it seemed to be made of a sort of elastic cord, cased in metal.

Kane sighed, his arms crossed behind his back. "…I suppose you have heard of Specter's little failure."

The navis said nothing, only Terra nodding his head.

"…I had faith that he would not fail, and he almost did succeed if it hadn't been for those damned navis! But no matter, Megaman has already absorbed enough of the energy to not be an interruption to us."

Saturn stepped forward. "Sir, would you like us to take care of these meddlers?"

Kane chuckled. "No Saturn, I just want one of you to take care of them."

Jupiter and Saturn both stepped forward, saying their words simultaneously. "I would be honored to do it Sir."

The man turned toward the computer with a grin. "I admire your patriotism, both of you. However, sending you two, or Terra for that matter, I think would be overkill. No, I believe I shall send you my dear."

Kane pointed a figure toward the fourth navi, who smiled at him. "It would be a pleasure."

"Oh, and Pluto!" Kane said, bringing the woman's attention back to him. "Feel free to dispose of them all, I only have need of Megaman."

Terra, who had remained silent throughout the whole meeting, jumped. "But sir! What about Specter's plans for the girl, Roll?"

"Specter will have his chance latter, for now I just want those three blasted navis out of the picture!"

Pluto smiled. "Do not worry Master, I, unlike Lord Specter, will not fail you."

Pluto ported away from the area, leaving her three commanding officers alone with Sir Kane. Kane growled at them, and with a single gesture ordered them away. With a quick bow the three where gone, and Kane once more turned his attention to the chunk of rock a floor below him.

_We are running short of time…I will not allow those traitors to interfere in my affairs anymore .I will return order to this world, no matter how many I must kill to do so!_

The damage done to Dr. Hikari's computer was not as bad as it looked. It took two days to get it fixed, and running up to speed, but strangely enough not a think had really been destroyed during the event. All the doctors files remained in place and the computer functioned as normal.

With a brief moment of peace hanging overhead, and Megaman still unconscious, Dr. Hikari took the time to investigate more into this strange energy contained inside the blue navi. The source of the energy was unknown, but it seemed to grow each time Megaman grew angered or scared.

With this in mind, Dr. Hikari did all he could to test the navi, and find out just what the energy was…hoping to find a cure for it. The doctor worked far into the night, with Lan, Maylu, and Roll right at his side.

Chaud and Zack decided to look for clues on E.N.D., starting with an investigation of its leader, Mr. Bellbridge. If what Chaud had assumed was right, Specter was working for Kane, who was running E.N.D. under the alias Bellbridge. He only hoped, secretly, that he was wrong…

Tyrell and Lucia decided to help out their friends, by searching for any clues on Specter, or the strange viruses. With the team split up, each one working to complete their missions, everyone hoped that a cure could be found…and that the truth could be revealed.

That hope became reality when Dr. Hikari ran a test on Megaman…

The doctor, who had been slumped over his computer, suddenly shot upright.

"I found something!" He yelled, causing the children to congregate around him in a tight clump.

"What is it Dad?" Lan asked, his voice almost frantic.

"I ran a few simple tests on Megaman, and found that all his systems where running normally, yet the energy was still present in his body. So I checked one last thing, and I think I've found how Megaman got infected."

"How?" Roll asked, the pink navi standing close to her blue friend, who was once again strapped down to the table.

"The Control System." The doctor said with a smile. "With it, Megaman can absorb the energies around him. Apparently being on the Net with all those dark viruses caused him to be infected…did he ever use the System during the time of those viruses?"

Lan shrank backward, looking down at his feet. "…Yes sir…"

Dr. Hikari sighed. "…Lan, I told you and Megaman, to never use that system until we checked it fully to make sure of its safety! Now look what happened because of it!"

"I'm sorry Dad…but Mega did it on his own, I didn't tell him to."

The doctor turned to the computer. "Well it doesn't matter now…at least we know how he got infected though."

Maylu spoke suddenly. "But wait! Megaman used the Control System a long time before he attacked Roll at Star Hill. Did it really wait in his body that long?"

"…Perhaps your right." The doctor said with another deep sigh, blowing his idea away.

"But what if he got infected when we stood in the safe zone Te- I mean Specter, told us about." Roll said, looking up at the doctor with a smile.

"Then why weren't you infected?" Lan asked.

"Because of the Control System!" the doctor exclaimed, the thought coming to him in a flash. "Megaman can absorb the energies around him with the System; Roll can't because she doesn't have that power! Perhaps the cannon firing contained dark e-"

The doctor cut himself off, the entire group starting at him. It suddenly hit them, that cannon shot was made of dark energy…which means that the entire Net could be affected by it!

"Lan, Maylu! Quickly, call everyone and tell them to get off the Net NOW! I'll alert the Officials of this, we have to get everyone off the Net before something happens!"

The truth had been found…now they just needed a cure.


	11. Chapter 11

~Chapter 11: It's Just Business

Demonman and Suki stood in the center of the Star Hill Area, surprised to see that the E.N.D. personnel had already left. All the computers and machines that had once crowded the area where gone. Nothing remained of the organizations presence, yet still it felt as though someone was watching them.

So far the search for any sign of Specter, or his virus lackeys, had turned up negative. The Net had returned to normal, and many where glad that the viruses had left.

"No sign of anyone…" Demonman said, his voice echoing throughout his body.

Demonman was not much more than a suit of armor, his head, arms, and legs slightly detached from his body. The entire form was held together by an eerie blue flame, but despite his dark appearance he was really a kindhearted soul.

"It's just a little too quiet around here…" Suki said, glancing around the area for any sign of life.

Suki looked much like a normal version of a navi, slightly based off of Megaman's design. Her body was a gentle cream color, while her armor was a deep green. She may look innocent, but she was strong in her own way.

The pair walked forward, toward a large fountain in the center of the area. They could remember seeing footage of Megaman's arrival at Star Hill, to enroll in the tournament. The area then had been full of life, and sparkling happy stars as well. But now, since the fall of Dark Aero, the area had fallen into ruin. In two years the area had become neglected, and many never ventured into it.

Rumors had spread that the spirits of the navis defeated during the tournament haunted the Star Hill area, which kept most of the citizens out. Only a few walked the halls of the area, and they only came for a brief moment before leaving as fast as they could.

The fountain that had once flowed with pristine blue water was empty now. The gentle little programs, called Storas, that had helped to keep the area running and safe where no more. No longer did they dance around the fountain, singing their songs and helping the guests find their way. It was a shame really, that the area had fallen to this as it did. It, at its creation, had been a fun place to stay.

The two navis where lost in memory, and jumped at a sudden sound behind them. Turning quickly they saw a purple kitten smiling up at them.

Suki smiled, kneeling toward it.

Lucia and Tyrell's image appeared on a small screen above the two navis, both of them smiling slightly at the small kitten.

"Aww! It's so cute!" Lucia said, looking to Tyrell, who just smirked and turned away.

"Hey there, are you lost or something?" she asked, the cat brushing up against her leg.

Demonman smiled slightly. It had always been a secret, but he really liked cats.

The purple cat turned away from the group and ran toward the edge of the area, a large star sitting at the very edge of the path. Once it got there it sat down, and turned toward the two navis, meowing to them.

Suki turned to Demonman. "Do you think it wants us to follow it?"

"…I don't know, but let's find out." He said, moving toward the cat.

"Be careful Demonman…I'm getting a bad feeling about this…" Tyrell said, being the only one to put a damper on things.

The cat seemed to smile when they moved to it, and it pushed against the large star. The star opened, revealing that it was actually a door. The navis followed the cat through the door, and then down a long hallway.

At the end of the hall they opened another door, and where shocked to see themselves standing in a very familiar area…they were standing in the center of the old Dark Aero area. The entire Dark Aero Network had been destroyed during the final battle with Iblis. Thanks to the use of the Control System, Megaman tossed Iblis into the core of the area, and the energy overload destroyed the entire complex, yet here they stood, in the very same area.

"How? This place was destroyed!" Demonman said, gasping as he looked around the area to see that navis in black uniforms still walked its halls.

There was a cackle of laughter behind the two navis, and they turned to see the cat burst into light and stand upright. When the light died away a female navi stood before them, laughing.

"The look on your face is absolutely priceless." She said, stepping toward the navis.

Suki looked the navi up and down. "Who are you?"

"My name is Pluto, I'm a member of your Masters new organization."

Demonman chuckled. "Then you are just as much a fool as we had been. Kane is mad!"

Pluto's smile fell quickly. "How dare you speak of him like that! Of course, you're not really that far off. My brothers and I are only working for the man because Specter told us to."

"So you work for Specter? I thought Kane controlled Specter." Tyrell said, staring directly at the purple navi.

Pluto burst into laughter. "Oh my dear, you are sadly mistaken if you think a stupid HUMAN orders my Master around. Specter is only using Kane to help his own cause."

The two friends glanced at one another, before looking back at Pluto. "Who's running this, Kane or Specter?"

Pluto opened her mouth to speak, but quickly shut it, growling at the two navis. "I've said too much already! But it won't matter, you are not going to be able to help your friends."

"And why not?" Suki asked.

Pluto smiled. "Because…you two aren't going to be seeing them again…ever."

Two black navis walked up and grabbed Demonman and Suki on the shoulders. The duo tried to move, but the navis grip was too much.

"Let them go!" Lucia yelled, being greeted with nothing but laughter from Pluto.

The purple navi stepped toward them, extending her fingernails like claws.

"As I said, you won't be seeing them again. It's nothing personal, it's just business."


	12. Chapter 12

~Chapter 12: Cat Claws

Demonman, usually a very calm and rather collected navi, was not one someone would want to anger. Though he was kind, he was very easy to make mad…and a mad Demonman was a dangerous one. His strength and power seemed to flow from the darkness that made him up, and he was a truly fearsome opponent…that was something that Pluto learned the hard way.

Only mere seconds after the men had grabbed hold of Suki and Demonman, did the larger navi try to shake off their grip. With a sudden growl and a lurch, Demonman tore himself forward. The two navis grabbed hold of him and held on, but he quickly got out of their grip long enough to fight back.

Grabbing the arm of the man on his left, he quickly pulled him forward. The man flipped forward and fell onto his back on the ground, looking straight up at Demonman.

Pluto cried out, sprinting backward from the large navi.

"You fools, hold him back!" she cried, her screams calling more navis into the area.

Suki, who had taken the sudden attack as a distraction, kicked her food backward and upward, striking the man in a very sensitive place. The guard fell to his knees, and lost his grip on the young girl. Suki knew what to do, and quickly ran in the opposite direction, running for help.

Pluto, who was concentration on keeping Demonman occupied, saw Suki dash toward the exit. Quickly she turned toward the navi as she passed by.

"W-Wait! The girl, she's getting away!"

The guards, who had now piled on top of Demonman to hold him down, all turned toward Suki as she dashed away. In their momentary lapse of consciousness, Demonman threw them off of him and ran at Pluto.

Pluto turned to the man, and with lightning fast reflexes slashed her claws forward. Unable to get away from them as they sailed toward him, Demonman felt the razor sharp knives cut into his chest. The cuts where deep, far deeper than one would think from such an attack, and Demonman staggered as he passed the cat-like navi.

Pluto smiled at him, watching as a few bits of data floated out of the wounds on his chest.

"Not so though are you?"

"…I'm tough enough!" he yelled, punching toward the navi.

A long stream of blue and red flames spiraled around Demonman's arm, and then shot forward at Pluto. With a piercing shriek, the navi jumped straight upward, away from the blast. As she sailed through the air she spiraled over Demonman's head, and landed just behind him.

"Demonman! Behind you!" Tyrell bellowed, causing his navi to turn around.

Pluto smiled, and kicked Demonman square in his chest. The blow knocked him backward, surprisingly as the female navi was much smaller than him. As Demonman staggered backward two men gripped his arms again, two more diving at his legs to hold him in place.

Pluto walked toward him with a smile on her face, extending her claws for him to see.

"Now, on to business…"

Lan slammed his hand down on the coffee table, causing his father to turn to him suddenly. The young man was staring at his PET, the phone book open. For the fourth time now he had tried to call Tyrell and Lucia, but to no avail. Each and every time the line was busy, and he just couldn't get through.

"Damnit! I still can't get through!" Lan yelled, causing his father to flinch slightly.

"Lan just keep trying! If you can't get through to them…they may be in trouble." Maylu said, turning toward the computer screen.

Megaman still lay on the table, with Roll at his side. The little pink navi was holding tightly onto Megaman's hand, staring at his face. It had been a while since Megaman had woke up, and Roll was worrying if he would recover from his last incident.

_Mega, what's going on inside you right now? Just what is that stuff doing to you?_

Megaman and Roll had been friends forever, and Roll was being torn apart each time Megaman became violent. But even so, seeing him like this, so weak and frail, was even worse. He wasn't himself, it was almost like that energy was…draining him. His face was pale, and he felt cold to the touch…almost dead, but Roll knew he wasn't because he was breathing still.

All her life Megaman had been there, protecting her and being there for her. Megaman was one of the best friends Roll had, and she would do anything for him as he would do for her. Whenever Roll needed help, whenever she needed someone to talk to, even if it was to just listen, she always had Megaman. She wouldn't, she couldn't, leave him…she just had to help him through it, just as he would for her.

Roll had her own hand slid tightly into Megaman's, and she squealed slightly as she felt the grip on her hand tighten. Quickly looking to Megaman, Roll watched as the blue navi slowly opened his eyes. It took a moment for his eyes to open, and even then they didn't open fully. Megaman squinted up at Roll, and smiled weakly.

"Hi Roll…" Megaman said, his voice weak and raspy.

"Hey Mega, how do you feel?"

"…Horrible…" Megaman said with a chuckle.

Roll tried to smile, but despite her best efforts a tear fell down her cheek. Megaman was weak, but why? Just what _was_ the dark energy doing to him?

Dr. Hikari, who was watching the two navis, smiled. "Lan, Maylu…Megaman's awake."

Lan and Maylu bolted forward, both of their faces filled with hope.

"Megaman! Are you alright?" Lan asked, staring at his friend with a wide smile.

Megaman turned his head toward Lan and smiled. "Hey Lan…I'm fine…just really sleepy."

"Megaman's body is trying to destroy the dark energy in his system, just like our bodies try to destroy cold viruses and such. Because of it he's having a similar effect to being sick with a cold." Dr. Hikari said, reading everyone's mind.

Maylu turned to the doctor, and spoke in a whisper. "Is he gonna be alright?"

"Yes…and he'll be even better if we can find a way to get the energy out of his system."

The group all turned to Megaman and smiled. Everyone was really relieved to see him wake up, but they knew that he was still infected with the darkness. With the darkness still on the Net, it was dangerous for anyone to be out there, and one could only imagine what effect more exposure to the darkness would have on Megaman's body.

"HELP! PLEASE!"

Everyone in the room jumped as a feminine scream filled the area. Spinning around, Roll could see Suki standing before her, out of breath. The green navi had apparently been running, and looked frantic.

"What's wrong?" Roll asked, not stepping away from Megaman's side.

"Demonman and I were attacked by some woman named Pluto! She's got Demonman, and he needs help!"

Before anyone could say anything in protest, Megaman tried to push himself off the table, but he was still held down by the restraints. The doctor saw this and sighed.

"No Megaman! You can't go out there, you're too weak!" he said, brining attention back to the blue navi.

"I have to help…" Megaman said with a groan, un-strapping the first of the restraints.

Roll spun around, her face stricken with sadness and slight horror.

"NO! No Megaman, you can't! You're in no condition to be fighting anyone."

"But Roll, I have to help…"

"No Megaman! I know how much you want to help, and I don't want anything to happen to Demonman either, but you are in no condition to be fighting anyone!"

"Roll…please…"

"No Mega. You would do whatever you could to protect Demonman, just as you would any of us. I don't want you to go…please…"

Megaman met Roll's gaze, staring straight into her eyes. The pink navi was standing firm, and was breathing heavily. Megaman could see that she was fighting back tears, and he smiled at her.

"…Roll…"

"Please Mega."

Megaman sighed and laid back on the table.

"…Lan, I think you should call Zack and Chaud…Demonman needs help now." Megaman said with a sigh.

Lan turned to his PET and started to dial, knowing that time was limited.

_Don't worry Tyrell, help is on the way…_


	13. Chapter 13

~Chapter 13: Eclipse

Sir Kane sat at his desk, staring at his computer screen. The man, who usually never showed much emotion aside from anger was shaking slightly. On his screen was Specter, the dark cloud of a navi had covered the entire area and was glaring right at the human.

"You did WHAT!" Specter bellowed, causing the Net Area to tremor slightly.

"I sent Pluto to take care of the fools that interfered with you."

"You idiot! I had planned for them to arrive, everything was proceeding as I saw fit! Now you've destroyed my entire plan."

Kane leaned back in his chair. "From how you ran off when they arrived I could have been fooled."

Specter's eyes seemed to flare, a powerful anger building in him. "I need all of them alive if I'm to complete my part of our plan…but no matter, Pluto is much too weak to defeat them."

"I wouldn't say that Specter, she has already cornered Demonman, and seems to be having fun with him."

"…I shall remedy that. Kane, you listen carefully! Focus yourself on delaying Megaman as long as you can. My powers will limit him, but I'll need the help of your operatives to slow him enough. I'll focus on finishing our little plan."

Kane turned away from Specter. "I do not enjoy being told what to do…"

"You will do as I command!" Specter yelled, a smile creeping across his false mouth. "…Or would you rather I return you to how I found you?"

Kane's eyes widened, and he quickly turned full away from the navi. "…V-Very well…Go on your way."

Specter left the area in a burst of black light, leaving Kane to stare out the window alone. The human lifted his right hand to his face, slowly pulling off the black glove that he wore. His hand was badly burned, and large black marks covered each inch of skin.

…_I can't believe I'm taking orders from that stupid navi! But, I must…at least until I can find a damned cure._

Sir Kane stood from his chair, and clutching his walking stick, slowly made his way to the elevator. Each step seemed to take more and more energy than before, and he let out a raspy cough as he neared the doors.

"The minute I find a cure is the minute that navi is sent packing…"

Demonman roared in anger as he ran at Pluto, his fist drawn. Both navis had taken quite a few blows, large cuts running along Demonman's body, and bruises beginning to take form on Pluto, but even still the two navis continued to fight.

Pluto quickly stepped to the right, dodging the blow from Demonman. With a smile she slashed out with her claws, cutting the arm that had meant to hit her, adding to the long list of injuries that the navis had endured.

Demonman staggered slightly as he turned to face his opponent.

"W-Why don't you give up?" he wheezed.

"I do not know the meaning of surrender!" she cried, throwing herself at the navi.

Demonman brought up his arms to protect him, as the cat slashed at him again and again. Each time she hit at him she was repelled, but her claws still cut into his arms. As the fight had drawn on her claws had dulled, and now they left smaller slices on Demonman's body, however now they hurt more, as they scrapped across him worse than before.

After landing a flurry of blows at the black navi, Demonman kicked out. He landed a powerful kick right onto Pluto's chest, and the smaller navi was knocked off her balance, and went sprawling onto the floor.

"J-Just give up!" Demonman yelled, standing over the purple navi.

Pluto groaned. "Why do you continue to fight me? What have you to gain from this?"

"I'm defending m-my friends!"

"Ha! Friends…how pathetic. If they are your friends, then where are they now to help you?"

Demonman's gaze fell, and he started to speak, when a voice was heard from above them.

"They're right here!"

The duo's gaze shot upward, and they saw that Protoman and Crain where standing there, swords drawn. The two Official navis jumped down from the Area, and where greeted with a roar as guards rushed in toward them. With a few simple slashes and stabs each one of the guards fell, and the saviors ran straight for their friend.

"Crain! Protoman!" Demonman yelled, greeting the two of them as they fought toward them.

Pluto hissed, and jumped up from the floor. With a powerful yell, she stabbed her claws straight outward and pierced through Demonman's back. The claws went in so deep that they pushed out of Demonman's chest.

The large navi screamed in pain as the blades pierced through his chest. His screams caused Protoman and Crain to freeze in their attacks, and stare right toward their friend.

"Demonman!" Tyrell yelled, his voice filled with fear.

Pluto pulled her claws out of the navi, who fell to the floor in a heap.

"Hmhmhmhm, where are your _friends_ now?"

"Right here you bitch!" Crain yelled, his voice coming from behind Pluto.

The purple navi turned to see a navi clad in splendid white armor, two large wings on his helmet. The navi looked like a sort of angel, but his face was clearly not one of joy. He took his sword, set inside a cane he carried with him, and thrust it outward.

Pluto screamed in agony as the sword pierced her body, just as her claws had done Demonman. Crain pulled himself close to the navi, still holding the blade in her.

"That's what _friends _can do!" he whispered, slicing the blade out from her body.

The purple navi fell to the floor next to Demonman, and the two swordsmen waited to see that she had indeed had enough. With their opponent defeated they turned toward their friend, who was lying on his stomach on the floor.

"Tyrell, jack Demonman out!" Protoman yelled, turning around to see more guards in the area.

"Right…and thank you." He said, his navi porting out of the area.

The two knights pressed their backs against each other, turning to see that the area was filled with guards. The army of agents moved toward them slowly, their own weapons drawn.

Protoman looked upward and smirked. "I believe it is time for us to leave Sir."

"I think you're right Protoman." Chaud said.

In a matter of seconds the army surged forward, crashing toward the navis like a flood of water. But the navis ported out just in time, at the exact moment the armies clashed together. The mission was a success, Demonman had been saved…but would he be alright?

Moments later the Net Area had became dark, and all had since left. The only one who remained was Pluto, who was pulling herself along the area in pain. She had no operator, no one to help her…no friends. Those she worked with where only her comrades in arms, they cared nothing for each other's well being…only getting the jobs done.

The purple navi continued to pull herself along, a few tears running down her face.

_I c-can't believe I was beaten! Master Specter will n-not be pleased…_

The Area, which had long since been dark, began to darken even more. The strange thick mist that had become common place for our heroes flowed all around the area. The mist slowly converged, and two blood red eyes stared down at Pluto from high above.

"I am not…" a voice called, responding to Pluto's own thoughts.

The female navi shot her glance upward, more tears running along her face. "P-Please Master…forgive me…"

"I have no room for forgiveness my child, you have failed me…"

"I am sorry."

Specter growled. "Not only have you lost to those weaklings, you betrayed my strict orders to NOT fight with them."

"I'm sorry Master, but I was only following Kane's orders."

"Kane is NOTHING! You pledged your alliance to ME!" Specter yelled, the area shaking and the clouds growing darker.

Pluto collapsed onto the ground, but slowly pulled herself up again.

"…I'm sorry my lord…"

"No my dear, I'm sorry." Specter said, the darkness beginning to gather around Pluto.

The darkness grew thicker and thicker, and Pluto could feel herself being gripped by an invisible force. The darkness squeezed her tighter, and tighter, until it became hard to breath. Pluto could feel herself fading, and fade she did.

The last thing she heard was Specter's final goodbye, as he then left her to fade away forever.

"…_I'm sorry that you are so weak."_


	14. Chapter 14

~Chapter 14: A Promise

As the saying goes, life does indeed go on. Time passed, a week's time to be exact, and everything slowly began to run its course. Demonman, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Hikari and his fellow scientists, was repaired and returned to normal.

Zack had left for Netopia, to speak with the Officials there about the dark energy on the Net. Oddly enough the plane he took to Netopia was the very same plane that brought Tyrell and Lucia to Electopia to meet with their friends. Chaud had also left for the Officials conference, and things quickly became quiet.

People still roamed the Net, though Officials patrolled every inch of it to keep it safe. In all of this peace, things where looking up! Even Megaman began to recover! With no way to expel the energy from Megaman's body, the navi was left to recover on his own. It took time, and even still Megaman was weak…but he had someone at his side…

Things had calmed down, and everyone could feel the stress lifting. Everything was as it should be, at least for now. It was on the night a week from the death of Pluto that it happened, the binding of two navis in a promise that would last the test of time…

The SciLabs Net Area was dark as pitch when Megaman awoke, the blue navi blinking his eyes rapidly to wake himself fully. He was no longer strapped to the table, and a few guards stood around the area to ensure his safety…of course those guards were asleep, as was a pink navi in a chair nearby.

Megaman turned his head just so slightly in order to see her, a smile stretching across his face. Roll was slumped down in the chair, her head pointed downward. She still had her hand on the bed, and Megaman reached out to touch it. Her hand was slightly cold, and Megaman wrapped his hand around it in an excuse to warm her hand.

The pink navi jumped awake as Megaman gripped onto her hand. Frantically she glanced around, before realizing that Megaman was watching her. Slowly she turned to him, a smile on her face.

"Hi Mega…" she said, her voice tired.

"Hey." Megaman said, smiling at her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Alright. I feel loads better than before."

"Good…I was worried." Roll said, looking away from her friend.

Megaman chuckled. " I know…and I'm sorry."

"What about?"

"…About the other day, when Demonman needed help. You where right the whole time, and I'm sorry."

Roll looked up at Megaman, her eyes starting to tear up. "Mega…"

"It's just…I worried that if I didn't help that something may happen. All I did was get in the way, I was just stupid."

"Megaman! You are not stupid!" Roll yelled, louder than she had meant, causing Megaman to flinch slightly.

"I'm not am I?" Megaman asked, a grin creeping across his face.

"No, you're not! You're just that way Megaman; you've always been so kind to everyone."

Megaman smiled, and Roll stood from her chair. The pink navi turned away from her friend and spoke in a whisper, careful that no one else could hear.

"All my life you have been there. Back when the WWW attack Maylu's house, you and Lan where there. Every time I ever needed you, you where there, even when Dark Aero attacked…when Iblis kidnapped me, I was so scared. But even when things looked the worst, I always knew you'd be there…"

"Roll…"

"I always knew you'd be there to save me Megaman. You're not like other navis; your strength doesn't come from your body but from your spirit. Your devotion to protect me, and all our friends, it's because of that you always win." Roll finished speaking with a heavy sigh, tears running down her face.

Megaman rose from the bed and stepped toward her, the pink navi turned away from him.

"Megaman…please promise me something…"

"Anything…" Megaman said, wrapping his arms around the shaking navi.

"Promise me you'll always be there…promise me you'll never leave me alone." She said, her voice breaking. Huge tears ran down her face, and Megaman pulled her against him. The blue navi pressed his lips to her ear and spoke in a whisper.

"I promise Roll…I promise to always be there, to be by your side to protect you. No matter what we face, no matter what dangers, I'll always be there for you…"

Roll burst into another volley of tears, and Megaman held her tightly, the two of them blocked out everything around them, only taking notice of each other. They had been through all out wars, and a promise had been made…a promise to never fail.

Megaman felt a tear run down his own cheek, and he sighed slightly.

_Roll…I will always be there, I promise. I just…I wish I could tell you, tell you how I really feel._

A single promise made between friends.

Was it simply a promise between friends…or was it something more?

Only time would tell…

Unknown to the two navis, there stood two figures nearby, masked in the darkness. The larger navi turned to his smaller counterpart, his voice creeping out of the darkness around them.

"Well isn't that just precious, it seems that the young navis feel something for each other."

"Specter will find this most interesting." Said the other figure.

"Yes, he shall. I will inform him; in the meantime I would like you to test our little friends."

"If I may ask, in what sort of way?"

The larger navi grinned. "Use the girl…It will be most interesting to watch things play out."

"As you wish, Commander Terra."

"Good luck Venus, I'll be watching intently."


	15. Chapter 15

~Chapter 15: Taken

The darkness of the night covered everything, and it caused Roll to feel slightly uneasy as she made her way around the SciLabs area. Of course, Megaman was right next to her, so she needn't fear that much. But even still, the darkness was cold…and she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.

The two navis walked together with smiles on their faces, enjoying each other's company. After Roll breaking into tears she was unable to sleep again, so Megaman proposed the two of them take a stroll to calm her nerves…however that wasn't helping much.

Roll reached out and took hold of Megaman's hand, squeezing it tightly, so tight that the blue navi grunted in pain.

"Oh! Sorry Mega…" Roll said shyly, a blush crossing her face.

"It's alright Roll. Is everything alright?" Megaman asked, knowing something was wrong.

"…I feel like we're being watched."

"I know, I feel it too. But don't worry, I'll protect you." Megaman said, a grin on his face.

Roll giggled and the two of them continued their walk. After a short while they heard footsteps from behind them. The duo walked a little faster, and flinched as they heard the steps hasten as well. Frantic the two of them broke into an all out run, listening as the footsteps sped to their pace yet again.

With a growl, Megaman spun around. "GO AWAY!"

His voice echoed around the area, but nothing responded…at first anyway. The two navis turned away and started moving again, and as they did they could hear a laugh echo around the area.

"Roll, stay close to me, no matter what." Megaman said, grabbing the pink and pulling her with him.

The laugh grew louder and louder, until there was a brilliant flash of light. A bolt of lightning split the sky, smashing into the ground near the two navis. Both navis screamed as they were thrown about by the lightning, separated at last.

"ROLL!" Megaman yelled, slowly pushing himself off the floor.

"MEGAMAN! HELP!" Roll cried, her voice coming from the platform just below Megaman.

As the blue navi ran to the edge of the walkway he saw a strange navi in yellow pull Roll with him. Megaman jumped down to the walkway below, and quickly ran after the yellow navi.

"HEY! STOP!" He yelled, nearly falling off the platform as he turned a corner to quick.

The chase continued around three more turns, and ended with the party reaching a large open area. The yellow navi pulled Roll with him, before throwing her down into the center of the floor. Megaman skidded to a halt, raising his buster toward the enemy navi.

"Let Roll go!" he yelled, fixing his eyes on the figure.

The yellow navi laughed, and turned toward him slowly. He was a rather round navi, and held the strong resemblance of a crab. He had the same long legs as a crab, which where yellow on the outer side, while white facing inward. The navi's body was short and round, his head fused onto it. Crabs have two short stalks that stick of their heads, where their eyes are. This was not so with the navi, whose eyes and mouth where made onto the upper section of his body. Instead of pincers the crab had an axe for his left hand, and a sword for his right. His body was yellow and white, but he had two stripes of red that ran down his left and right side.

The yellow navi smiled at Megaman.

"Hello Megaman, I've heard quite a bit about you."

"Funny, I don't think we've ever met." Megaman said with a sneer.

The yellow navi chuckled. "Well then, let me introduce myself. My name is Venus, and I have been waiting for this for a long time."

"Let Roll go Venus!"

"I'm afraid I cannot."

"Alright then…be ready, because I'll kill you if I have to in order to protect her."

Venus smiled. "Very well then Megaman, come at me!"

Megaman fired three shots from his buster, and then dived to the ground. The blue navi would have fired more shots, but Venus extended his sword arm and sliced toward him. The giant sword sailed right above Megaman as he crawled away from its range and stood again.

The shots Megaman had fired had simply bounced off the navi, and without Lan to help him, Megaman was out of options. The blue navi knew what he had to do; he had to use the Control System…no matter the cost.

Closing his eyes tightly, the navi began to relax himself. He could feel the ground tremble slightly as the yellow crab-like navi stepped toward him, and he could feel the half dead air around him as it slowly, gently, blew by. He searched frantically for something to use as a weapon, any element would work! It was then that it happened…

Venus grinned, raising his sword and axe into the air. His target wasn't moving, which made it easy to hit. With one powerful downward slice the weapons sailed toward Megaman, yet still the blue navi didn't move.

Roll, who was watching everything from her position behind the battling pair, cried out as the weapons hurtled toward her friend.

"MEGAMAN!" she cried, causing slight movement from her friend.

Megaman's eyes shot open, and a grin stretched across his face. The blue navi looked at the weapons as they moved toward him, and with a simple wave of his hand they where deflected, as a huge orb of dark black energy encased the navi. Venus staggered backward as his weapons bounced off of the dark barrier, and he stared on in awe, along with Roll, at the figure inside the orb.

The darkness slowly melted away to reveal Megaman, though a much different looking Megaman. His body was a dark charcoal black, lined in a deep crimson, his gloves where red as blood, along with his boots and helm. A simple breastplate covered his upper half, which too was as black as night. Large spikes of grey metal protruded from Megaman's shoulders and the top of his helmet. The spikes on his helm almost looked like horns, as they curved upward. His eyes where as red as his suit, and a strange dark mist seemed to flow from him.

The dark navi chuckled, his voice echoing around the area. He had called on the powers of darkness, the power that rested inside of him thanks to Specter. Never in his life had he felt this much energy coursing through him, and he was enjoying every second of it.

Megaman took a step toward Venus, and the crab, as well as Roll, backed away from him.

"The Commander told me about your abilities to call on the elements. This may get interesting." Venus said with a sneer.

"Indeed it shall." Megaman said, his voice not his own.

Venus charged at Megaman, swinging his weapons madly. Each slice came closer and closer to the navi, but each one failed to hit him. Megaman dodged left and right, simply bending in the opposite direction just as the blade reached him. As he bent he grinned at Venus.

"Is that all you've got?" he asked, ready to show his true power.

"Grr! I'm not finished yet!" Venus yelled, stomping his hooked legs into the floor.

The long yellow needle like legs pushed through the floor and moved toward Megaman. As they closed in on their target they shot upward, spiking up through the ground and further upward to impale his foe. Yet still did the attack fail, as Megaman nimbly rose off the floor, pushed along by the spikes. With a single finger resting on the spikes edge, Megaman stood upright, laughing at his enemy.

Venus wailed in anger, sending more spikes toward his foe. Each one missed, as Megaman tossed himself from spike to spike, standing on them by his own grace. The attack continued again and again, until finally Megaman grew tired of it. With Venus slightly winded, Megaman took his chance.

The dark navi returned to his standing pose, and put his hand in front of him, palm facing Venus. With a dark smile a small orb of black energy grew in his hand, slowly charging up for the attack that was to come.

Roll dashed away from the fight, tears once more moving down her face.

_Megaman…the way you're fighting, it's not you!_ _That energy…what has it done to you…_

The pink navi turned back just in time to see the final blow, as Megaman raised the orb of darkness above his head. In a sudden flash it shot upward, high above the battlefield. It sailed higher and higher, before bursting into a rain of dark black drops.

The black drops fell toward the battlefield, suddenly bursting into flames. It was then that Roll could see, that the dark energy had created a rain of pitch black meteors, that crashed downward toward Venus. The attack happened so fast that Venus didn't have time to escape. The rain of dark meteors crashed into him, smashing him into the battlegrounds.

Megaman burst into laughter as he watched the navi fall before him, completely pummeled by the rock.

"Not so tough are you Venus? With all that talk of you knowing me, I had thought you to be stronger. You were nothing but a joke!"

The dark energy suddenly broke away into fragments, flowing back into Megaman's body. The navi allowed the energy to reenter his body before changing back to his original form, looking upon the ruins of the area they had fought in.

Huge holes had been made into the ground of the areas around them, and all that remained of Venus was a crushed body, the navi still twitching slightly as he tried to catch his last breath. The battle was over, and it seemed the nature of the area had taken a heavier casualty than the competitors.

Megaman turned toward Roll and his face fell.

His pink friend burst into tears and ran from him, running back toward the area where that had started their walk from. Megaman wasn't himself, he had enjoyed destroying Venus…and that simple fact scared Roll.

"…Roll…" Megaman whispered, pausing in shock before dashing after his friend.

What had he done?


	16. Chapter 16

~Chapter 16: Crisis

One would be surprised at how much can happen in a single night, and it seemed for Megaman and the gang the night was to be a long while. Apart from the blue hero and his fight with the navi Venus, elsewhere on the Net another battle had begun, a fight between a group of Officials and an army of navis.

The fight began not long after Megaman's own fight, the Officials conference interrupted at its climax. Officials from all over the world where in attendance, meeting in a "secret" area of the Net in the Netopian Domain. The meeting had been called by Official leaders in Netopia and Electopia, wishing to find a solution to the new problem raised by Dr. Hikari, the dark energy exposure on the Net.

In the real world, Zack and Chaud had taken their seats, sitting side by side in a large board room at the Netopian HQ. The room was plain, and bare of any colors aside from white. There were representatives from every region of the world, all of them sitting in silence, awaiting the meeting to start. The Net mirrored this image, navis standing in accordance to their representative, not a word among them.

A man clad in a dark black suit stepped to the front of the room, and the guests rose to greet him, only sitting back in their chairs when given a gentle nod from the man.

"Thank you all for coming tonight, I must apologize for any stress this sudden meeting may have put on you all. Some crucial information has been brought to my attention by two of our members, Chaud Blaze of Electopia and Zackary Leo of Netopia. Zack, Chaud, would you like to tell us why we're here?"

Zack and Chaud stood slowly from the table, looking to each other for a moment.

"Not long ago the Network was flooded with a strange mass of dark viruses; these viruses covered all of the Net in every continents area. As you all know, these viruses where near invincible, only being able to be destroyed by the organization known as E.N.D." Zack said, turning to Chaud.

"The destruction of these viruses was at the hand of a powerful cannon blast orchestrated by E.N.D. One of our friends was present at the firing of the cannon, and since then has been infected with a strange dark energy. This energy distorts his mind, body, and seems to be a link to a dark navi called Specter. I believe that this Specter, and the E.N.D., have used the cannon blast as a cover up to infect the net with the same energy that has corrupted our friend."

One Official rose, a representative from Sharo.

"What proof do you have that the Network is infected with this energy?"

Chaud turned toward him, his face blank. "We do not have material proof, however I do have a slight hunch."

"Yes?"

"As you all may remember, two years ago the organization know as Dark Aero put this world in peril at the hands of a similar cannon shot. After a battle with the organizations leader Sir Kane, I was pulled aboard a copter flight to a rendezvous point with more members of Dark Aero. While there I heard Sir Kane speaking of a operation known as EVE. During the press conference with Mr. Bellbridge, head of E.N.D., he mentioned operation EVE."

The representatives in the room began to speak amongst themselves for a moment, but where called back into order by the head speaker at the head of the room.

"Thank you Chaud, Zack. Now, I would like to ask-"

But the head speaker didn't finish those words, as there was a sudden cry from the Net.

Everyone shot their attention to the Network, where they watched as the representative from Sharo's navi shot another navi dead. Acting on instinct the entire force shot forward, tackling the man as well as his navi.

The man burst into laughter as he was pinned to the floor. "You're pretty good at picking up on things Chaud, to bad none of you will be leaving this room."

"Oh really, and why not?" Zack asked, stepping toward the man.

"Simply because we won't allow it."

"We? Who's we?"

Those where the last words spoken before all hell broke loose.

Dark mist seeped into the Net Area, covering everything it saw. The mist was black as night, just like the mist that flowed from Specters own body. All the navis drew their weapons, searching the darkness for their enemy. Red eyes blazed in the darkness, and dark black navis surged forward. Swords clashed and busters fired all around as the dark army grew in number, and continued their advance.

Protoman drew his saber and dashed forward, slicing two navis clean in half as he moved past them. The minute he was free of the two enemies another wave shot toward him. With great speed and accuracy Protoman sliced each one of the navis down, moving further into the dark cloud of enemies.

Crain on the other hand was having trouble, one navi having grabbed hold of his sword arm around his back, and had locked him in place. With their foe held back, two other navis moved toward him with their weapons drawn. Crain could see that he was short of options, and he quickly glanced upward.

"Zack! Help!"

Zack knew just what to do, he pulled a chip from his pocket and quickly slid it into his PET. He didn't use chips that much, only when Crain really needed them.

Crain's body burst into a shimmering light, and he suddenly moved upward, out of the man's grip. The navis all clutched at him, but their hands went right through his body as he floated higher, two large white wings sprouting on his back. With his sword in hand he dived into the crowd of dark navis, piercing through the center of the crowd and deleting a whole group of navis at once.

Two navis watched the battle as it drug own, sighing as they watched their own army be cut down. One of the navis was bright red and orange. He was quite bulky, and resembled that of a bull. He stood on two feet, his boots shaped like hooves. He had two large horns sticking off his head that curved upward and outward, and a large gold ring was set onto his nose, which oddly enough was square. He had sky blue eyes, which seemed to break the pattern of red, orange, and gold that his body armor made up.

The second navi that stood by him was a strange sight to see…or not see in this case. His entire body was made of a strange green liquid. But the liquid was not wet; instead it was rather solid, like metal. He had a very basic form, looking much like a normal net navi aside from the six spikes that jutted out from his helmet and the pink gloves and boots he wore.

The bull navi belonged to that of the representative from Sharo, and he snorted as he watched Protoman and Crain quickly demolish a large group of guards.

"This is boring, sitting here watching them fight, why don't we go have some fun?" he said, his voice dull and deep.

"Now, now Uranus, the Commander told us to simply observe."

"Ah Mercury, your no fun!"

Mercury sighed. "…All right then, maybe we could have a little fun. But the Commander hears nothing of this, are we clear?"

Uranus laughed, already half way toward the two fighters. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say pal."

Mercury let out a long sigh before slowly stepping into the crowd. "That bull-headed fool…always running into a fight."

Uranus barreled through the crowd of his own troops, knocking them to the floor in a heap. As he charged forward, Protoman and Crain dived away from him and just in time too, for the giant navi would have flattened them had he hit them.

The two swordsmen jumped up from the floor to meet their foes, Uranus staring at Protoman while Mercury bowed to Crain.

"Good evening, my name is Mercury, and this is my partner Uranus. I'm afraid I must apologize for our rather rude interruption of your meeting, but we have our orders you see."

"And just who gave you these orders?" Crain asked, slowly landing in place on the floor, the wings vanishing from his back.

"Our Commanding Officer of course, though he gets his orders from higher up the chain, Lord Specter and Sir Kane."

Protoman chuckled. "Guess you where right Sir, Kane is back."

Chaud sighed. "Yeah…lucky me…"


	17. Chapter 17

~Chapter 17: Dance in Darkness

The entire Net Area was locked in a heated battle with an army that didn't seem to ever end. Officials ran all around, blasting and slicing at the darkness around them. All the while the cloud of black mist grew larger and thicker, more and more navis and now viruses rushing out of it. The darkness stretched on as far as the eye could see, and the army didn't seem to give up.

The fighting grew more fierce as more navis arrived to aid the Officials cause. But for each navi that stood against the darkness at least six more dark navis dashed forward. Every inch of the area was locked in battle, and in the center of it all stood Protoman and Crain, their blades pointed toward their opponents Uranus and Mercury.

Uranus, being much taller and larger than Protoman, looked down on his red foe with a grin. Compared to himself, Protoman was but an ant.

"The Commander has told us about how strong you are in battle," Uranus said with a laugh, "I can't see why. With those scrawny arms I doubt you could even scratch my armor!"

Protoman chuckled. "Well then, why don't we see?"

"Haha! I like your attitude little guy, let's dance!"

Uranus stomped his foot causing the area to tremor slightly. With a powerful amount of force, he charged toward Protoman. The red navi dived to the side, just in time to miss the bull as he barreled through.

"Damn, he's fast for a big guy." Protoman said with a shot toward his operator.

Chaud quickly reached into his pack and removed a chip. "Don't worry Protoman, this won't take long."

Uranus chuckled as he turned toward the enemy. "No, this won't take long…long for me to destroy you!"

Protoman spun around, raising his blade just in time to block a powerful swing by Uranus. The giant navi's arm came crashing toward Protoman, who blocked it with his blade. Sparks flew as the giants arm hit the sword, and Protoman dug his feet into the ground to gain traction as he was slowly pushed backward by the force of the blow.

Chaud knew he had to help, and quickly inserted the chip he had taken from his pouch. As it was downloaded into Protoman's system his sword began to glow, and burst into a brilliant orange flame covered blade.

Uranus, who was still pushing against Protoman's blade, cried out as the flames arched around his arm. The tendrils of pure fire continued their march across his body, binding like chains against him. As the larger navi recoiled back from his foe, Protoman briefly turned his attention toward Crain and Mercury, as the two stood at a pause in their fight.

Crain stood with his own blade locked against Mercury's. The navi that had once been made of a bright green liquid was no longer in such a form, instead stood an almost exact copy of Crain…except he was green of course.

"Nice job of copying me, and my abilities." Crain said with a chuckle, pushing harder on his blade.

Mercury smiled. "Why thank you, I have practiced for quite some time."

The green navi suddenly broke the swords binding, falling into a puddle of green water on the floor. Crain watched as this puddle slowly moved around him, rising into form once again, behind him.

With astonishing speed the white navi spun around, blocking a downward slice from his green twin. The two locked swords again, and again, each time moving further into the crowd of darkness. Each step they took pushed them deeper into the dark army, who marched on around them as not to even notice.

As the two were stalled once more, locking blades yet again, Mercury cried out. A stray buster shot had hit him in the side, causing him to lose his concentration on the fight at hand. Crain took his advantage, and quickly sliced his opponent across the center.

The green navi staggered backward, his body morphing back into its original form. The cut was deep, and small specks of data floated out of it. He raised his hand to his midsection, touching to the wound and cursing.

"Good shot my friend, very good indeed."

"Thank you." Crain said, thrusting his blade toward the green foe.

Mercury burst into laughter, jumping backward and away from the strike. He had fought long enough, toyed with his foe for quite enough time. It was time to finish the fight, the end was near.

"Uranus, my brother, it is time to finish these fools!" Mercury yelled, turning to his red friend.

Uranus quickly dashed toward the green navi, and the two joined hands.

"Let's see how well you handle this!" Uranus yelled, a bright light engulfing both their bodies.

Protoman and Crain steadied their blades, pointing them directly at the light. They were ready to fight, ready to end the battle once and for all. Though they didn't know how…

The light grew and grew, and when it did finally die away it revealed a new foe for the powerful duo to face. Mercury and Uranus where no more, in their place stood a single navi, its body was that of Uranus, tough it was colored bright silver. His body seemed to shimmer, bubbles of air floating up through his form like a lava lamp.

The powerful navi threw his hand forward, at its stretched from his body toward the swordsman. Protoman leapt into the air, slicing downward shortly after. His flaming blade sliced clean through the hand, breaking it into blobs of silver goo.

But the navi seemed unphased, the goo returning to his body and rebuilding his lost hand.

Uranus burst into laughter, a large grin on his face. "You see, I can't be touched. Mercury and I may be a lot different, but we're brothers! We are far more powerful in unison then we are apart, as you will soon see!"

The silver navi threw his arms outward, the ends of them transforming into vicious looking beast heads. The right arm held the head of a serpent, while the left held the head of a lion. Each head roared as both fire and ice spewed from their mouths, two opposing elements working together.

Crain ran at the serpent head, slashing madly at the length of silver behind the head. Each slash cut through it, but it simply reformed as the blade passed through, not a scratch left on it. The swords had absolutely no effect.

"Zack! This isn't good, we need another plan." Crain said, diving away from a shard of ice as it sailed toward him.

"He's right Sir, we aren't even scratching his body!" Protoman yelled, slicing a ball of flame clean in two as it hurtled toward him.

Zack quickly searched through his available chips, and happened to find that he only had one left, an Ice Sword.

"Crain! I'm sending you all I have, an Ice Sword." Zack said, downloading the chip data into his navi.

Crain's blade shimmered with light blue light, before transforming into a spike of solid ice. The white navi ran at the serpent, dodging a hail of ice bullets, and sliced at it franticly. This time his blade wouldn't even cut through the silver slime, instead it bounced off of it.

"Great! Now we're doing worse!" Crain yelled, bouncing away from a chunk of ice.

Protoman was hoping to and fro, dodging a shower of meteors as the lion spit them at him. It was as he had steadied himself for attack that an idea hit him. He had the power of flames, Crain the power of ice…yet here they were fighting against their own elements. If they switched enemies, Crain fighting fire with ice and Protoman ice with fire, they might be able to damage it.

In one steady motion he moved his way over to Crain's side.

"Crain, I have an idea. You focus your ice attacks on the fire head, and I'll focus my fire attacks on the ice head!"

Crain slapped himself on the forehead. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that!"

The navis steadied themselves, pointing their blades outward. They stood in wait of the next attack, ready to defeat the enemy. The silver navi roared, and each head fired a barrage of bullets.

Protoman dashed straight into the mouth of the beast, his sword pointed forward. He smiled to himself as the burning hot blade pushed its way through the serpent's mouth, piercing through the back and into the silver slime. Crain too did this, and laughed in triumph as the lion's head was pierced.

The two heads quickly broke away, the sliver gel that made them up exploding outward. The gunk covered the two swordsmen, but they didn't care, the fight was over.

The silver navi screamed in pain, falling to his knees. As he fell his body burst into white light, and the two navis broke apart from each other, falling beside one another.

The cloud of darkness that flowed around the area suddenly shook, and was blasted away by brilliant white light, as it glowed out from the two defeated navis. The battle was over, and the dark army was blown out like a flame in the wind.

Protoman and Crain stepped toward Uranus and Mercury, who slowly stood up from the floor.

Mercury, who stood quicker, burst into laughter. "Well done…p-perhaps the Commander was r-right when he said you where strong…"

"Y-Yeah, but you s-still won't win." Uranus said, as he too rose from the floor.

"And why not?" Protoman asked, pointing his blade at the enemy.

"O-Our master, Sir Kane, has the a-ability to activate the Dark Energy whenever he p-pleases…if he wished, he could d-destroy this entire Network right n-now…" Mercury said, a grin crossing his face.

"So the cannon did affect the Net!" Chaud yelled.

"Yes it did. As we speak, the Dark Energy that is housed inside your friend Megaman is crawling inside the inner workings of the Net. Nothing can stop the darkness from engulfing everything…even your great hero Megaman has fallen to the dark."

"What do you mean? How?" Crain asked, putting his arm out to hold Protoman back from a greatly desired slash at the green navi.

"Hahahahah, you see…Megaman has t-the power to absorb the energies around him…he doesn't k-know it, but the darkness is slowly pushing its way into his heart and soul…soon he will fall to the darkness…"

"You lie! Megaman would never become one of you!" Protoman yelled, pushing past Crain.

"…You do not know your friend as well as you think…he has already called upon the powers of darkness to defeat our brother Venus, even now the energy is creeping through him. Now it is in its infant stage, only becoming apparent around its father Specter, but when Master Kane releases the seal on the Dark Energy across the Network, your friend Megaman will join the call of the dark!"

Protoman roared in anger, and with one quick motion of his saber, ended the life of the hurt Mercury. Uranus watched this with a smile, and then too was destroyed by the duo.

"…Sounds like time is running short." Chaud said with a sigh.

"Yeah, sure does." Zack said, stepping toward his friend.

Just as things where about to quiet down, everyone took notice of a voice coming in over the Net. A large television screen appeared overhead in, not just that one area, but in the entire Network. Navis and operators all across the world turned to their TV's, and screens to see the broadcast.

On the screen was Sir Kane, sitting in a black leather chair roaring with laughter.

"Attention people of the world, my name is Kane…Sir Kane. You may know me better as my guise, Mr. Bellbridge. I would just like to announce that the time of technology is at an end! I have in my possession a weapon powerful enough to destroy every last piece of data in this world! The entire Network is in my hands, and I intend to see it crumble into dust!"


	18. Chapter 18

~Chapter 18: Countdown

The message was spread all across the world, from home to home via the Network. The sun had just risen in Electopia, and the people of Den Tech where greeted by the face of Sir Kane as they rose from their beds. From computer screens to TV's, everything electronic was playing the message.

Dr. Hikari sat in his office, staring at the computer screen in shock. Megaman and Roll had left his computers Net Area, and he had no idea where they had run off to. Chaud and Zack where late for their return flight to Electopia…just what was happening!

The doctor turned toward his phone, and had just started to dial as the door opened. In walked Lan and Maylu, with Lucia and Tyrell close behind. The latter two had just arrived in Electopia, and had spent the night in ACDC Town with Lan and Maylu. As the group walked in they turned their attention to the computer screen as well, listening to Sir Kane as he spoke of his intentions.

By this time the message had looped three times, and each time was the same.

"...the power of endless darkness is in my hands, and I intend to use every bit of it. You people have relied on the Network, and vast technology for too long! No more are the days of human toil, instead you chose for Navis and programs to do it for you. I will remedy this in one motion. Just what will you do without the Network, how will you live? I hope you have those answers people of the world, because that time is NOW!"

The entire group froze in front of the computer, staring in shock.

Lan glanced toward his father, his face dark. "What's going on?"

"It seems that Sir Kane has revealed himself at last…"

Lucia turned toward her PET with a sigh. "Sounds like it…why can't he just give up!"

"We may have beaten him once, but already the people he have working for him are stronger. No doubt he will be as well." Tyrell said, stepping toward the computer screen.

As the group started to think back to Sir Kane's last attempt to destroy the Net, a thought occurred to Lan.

"Does anyone know where Megaman is?"

The powers of darkness are not something to be taken lightly. They corrupt one's mind, body, and soul… Each moment that Megaman had been knocked out, each second he lay in pain, Roll was at his side…watching as the darkness was slowly taken into his body.

When Megaman had fought Venus, defeating him with the powers of the darkness within him, Roll had seen the look in his eyes. He was laughing, smiling; he was enjoying destroying his foe. That was not the Megaman she knew.

Running through the Net Areas, Roll moved farther and farther away from Megaman. Tears streamed down her face as she ran from her blue friend, who was close behind her.

"Roll! Stop, please!" Megaman yelled, catching up to the pink navi.

Roll continued her escape, the tears making it hard to see. With a sudden cry she tripped over her own feet, and fell to the floor in a heap.

Megaman dashed to her side, kneeling down to help her up. As he grabbed her arm she jerked away from him, hiding her face from his gaze.

"Roll, what's wrong with you? Why are you running from me?" Megaman asked, staring at his pink friend with deep concern.

"Y-You…you enjoyed that didn't you?"

"Enjoyed what?"

"Destroying Venus! I saw you, you where smiling and laughing!"

Megaman sighed, and reached out to his friend. She was shaking, unable to stop the tears as they streamed down her face. He brushed his hand across her face, wiping away her tears.

"…Roll, I'm sorry. I had to stop Venus, and when I used the Control System…I had no idea what would happen…I promised to protect you Roll, no matter what. I plan on keeping that promise, until the end."

Roll looked up at Megaman, staring into his eyes. She could see that a few tears had begun to form in his own eyes, and she smiled at him. Megaman was back, the Megaman she knew so well was still there. The darkness hadn't destroyed him, he was still there.

Roll jumped into Megaman's arms, throwing her arms around his neck. With a chuckle, the blue navi held her and smiled.

"I'm sorry Megaman…" Roll said, her voice slightly muffled.

"Don't worry about it Roll…I'm just happy your safe."

The two navis lay there, holding one another, when a laugh was brought to their ears. Looking up the two could see Dr. Hikari, Lan, Maylu, Lucia, and Tyrell all looking at them.

"Hope we're not interrupting anything." Dr. Hikari said with a smile.

Both navis blushed bright red, and Roll started to move off of Megaman. The two navis stood up and waved to their friends, trying to hide their embarrassment.

"Hey Lan!" Megaman said with a smile.

"How are you feeling Megaman?"

"Great…really great." The blue navi said, turning to Roll.

Unknown to the human onlookers, Megaman had taken Roll's hand into his. He smiled at Roll as she pressed her hand into his, and the two of them made their way back to the doctors Net Area. As they made their way there they listened to their friends talk about Sir Kane's return, and his intentions.

Peace was still a long way off…the battles they had all fought may have ended, but the war for the entire world had just begun.

Chaud Blaze and Zackary Leo where sitting in their chairs in the meeting room once more, the representative from Sharo gone from the meeting. With the conclusion of the sudden attack, the meeting had returned to normal, and once more was on the move.

The head speaker had turned his attention to a large screen behind him, watching as the video message from Sir Kane played on with muted sound. It had seemed that Chaud was correct about Sir Kane's return…

Chaud turned to the head speaker and stood as he spoke. "Do we know anything about how Kane may activate this energy Sir?"

"No, we do not. I currently have agents tracing the video's frequency, trying to pinpoint the location of Sir Kane."

Zack stood from his chair, looking from Chaud to the speaker. "Don't you believe that to be too easy Sir? Kane is a smart man; I think he would have thought of us tracing the message."

"I thought the same…I believe that this may be a trap of sorts."

Chaud sighed. "We don't have any other choice. Kane has to be stopped…"

One of the representatives stood up, looking at Chaud in shock. "You know this to be a trap, and yet you still wish to find him?"

"We have no other choice...to Kane we are nothing but mice, ready to take the bait and spring the trap."

"I suggest we mice get a plan of attack together. We'll need one when the time comes." The head speaker said, turning to the screen once more. "Meeting adjourned."

As the group of representatives made their way out of the building, Chaud turned to his friend.

"Call Lan and the others…"

"Good idea. We'll need to work together to stop Kane."

Protoman looked up at his operator with a grim face. "It seems the countdown has begun Sir…"

"Yes Protoman…it has." Chaud said with a sigh, stepping out of the glass doors of the building and loading into a black car along with Zack.

The car sped away from the building, heading to the airport.

It was time to go home…


	19. Chapter 19

~Chapter 19: The Team

Sir Kane stood on the first floor of the lab, surrounded by his agents clad in black. The scientists that had been running all about where gone, their job finished. In their place stood men in black suits, each one of them fixed on their master.

The "Master" was standing just in front of a large computer screen. On the screen one could see Jupiter and Saturn standing next to their commander, Terra. Behind them stood two new navis, hidden in the darkness, only their eyes shining through. Further behind them was Specter, his dark mist covering the entire Net Area.

"Everyone, I would like to thank you for coming." Sir Kane started, looking between the two groups. "I have called you here to inform you of our last battle. I have sent a message all around the world that, by this time I'm sure, has been picked up by the authorities. No doubt they are tracing it here, which means that the final battle is at hand!"

The group of humans cheered, while the navis simply smirked. Specter moved forward, his flaming red eyes taking up the screen.

"I have waited millennia for this day, locked away inside that blasted comet. The time of technology is over; the time of my sealing is done! On this day I will be free, and not only that, but this pathetic Network will be broken, and scattered to the four winds!"

The crowd cheered once more, and the navis slowly made their exit.

Sir Kane turned to his men and smiled. "…Everyone, man your stations! The day of reckoning is at hand!"

With his speech completed, Sir Kane extracted a small remote from his pocket. The remote contained a single button, a dull purple lever. He grinned, bursting into laughter as he moved the switch from OFF to ON.

The darkness…was awake…

In ACDC Town Square, things had returned to normal. Navis walked all around the area, buying items and reading the news. Sir Kane's message had stopped, and things had seemed to calm down.

A basic looking navi was walking out of the square, turning to walk up the small incline. As he made his way up the incline he could hear strange clicking noises from over the hill. Taking no notice of the noise, he topped the hill…it was only then he saw what was going on.

Seven large spider-like creatures stood before him, a strange mist flowing from their bodies. Each one of them was black as night with blazing red eyes. The group of spiders slowly turned toward him, and took large steps in his direction. Franticly the green navi raised his buster to the spiders, and fired shot after shot at them. Each blast broke away on their bodies, but left them unharmed.

The spiders continued their advance, until they were right in front of the man. With a great cry, the seven spiders lunged forward, covering the man with their dark forms. The man screamed in agony, trying to pull the spiders off of him, but it was no use. In a matter of seconds the darkness had engulfed him, and the man was gone.

A group of navis had seen this, standing not too far away. Quickly they ran away, fearing that they may be next. As they reached the exit of the area, a sudden bolt of black lightning struck in front of them. The energy grouped together, and another spider stepped from it.

The last thing any of the navis saw was another bolt of lightning, and another, and another! Each one hit nearby, creating more spiders. The darkness that had been purged from the Net a few days before had returned.

It took a matter of minutes for the news of the spiders return to reach the media, and only a few minutes more for it to reach Lan and his friends.

Lan was staring at his PET, Megaman once again safely inside. The blue navi was staring back at his friend, a worried look upon his face.

"Lan, what are we going to do?"

"What can we do?" Lan said with a sigh, falling into a heap on the sofa.

Dr. Hikari was looking at his computer screen, six different windows open on his monitor. Each window showed a different news report, every one of them showing the spread of the dark viruses across the Net. Electopia and Netopia had been hit late, only moments after Sharo had been engulfed.

The doctor watched each news report, his face growing with confusion as each one went on.

"I don't understand…if Kane did this, then how?"

Tyrell sat down next to Lan, putting his arms behind his head. "It's Kane, half the stuff he does doesn't make sense."

"Yes, but…how could he do it without anyone noticing anything?"

The two men continued talking, throwing ideas back and forth. As the conversation went on, Lucia joined in, and the air was filled with the sound of arguing voices. Amidst all the noise Maylu walked forward, putting her hand on Lan's shoulder.

"Is Megaman doing ok?" she asked, her voice at a whisper.

"I feel fine Maylu." Megaman said, a smile on his face.

"If the energy that Mega was exposed to is the same as this, wouldn't it affect him?"

"I guess…of course, here in his PET the energy wouldn't have reached him." Lan said, turning toward his father who was still talking.

"HEY DAD!" Lan yelled, causing the arguing group to silence themselves and turn to him.

"What?"

"Should Megaman be affected by the release of energy on the Net?"

Dr. Hikari turned to his computer. "He should, but by my last readings…the dark energy seems to have went dormant in his body. If the energy is connected somehow, then it should have activated when Kane released it."

"Maybe Megaman's cured!" Lucia said, a smile on her face.

"We hope…" the doctor said with a sigh, his phone ringing before he could speak anymore.

Turning slowly, the doctor picked up the phone and listened to the voice on the other end. The call was quick, and the doctor didn't say a word. The only noises that emitted from the man, where simple grunts and groans. When the call had ended he hung up, and turned back to everyone with a sigh.

"That was Chaud and Zack. They said that they have pinpointed the location that Sir Kane's message came from."

"Really, where?" Lan asked, jumping up from the couch.

"An old laboratory in Sharo. It's been deserted for years, shut down when an experiment contaminated the area."

Tyrell chuckled. "Sound like a place that Kane would go."

"So what are we going to do? Are Chaud and Zack coming here?" Maylu asked, stepping toward the doctor.

"No, they're on a flight to Sharo with some other Officials."

"So what should we do?"

The doctor opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a sudden burst of laughter.

Quickly the group turned toward the doctor's computer, where the voice had came from. On the screen, on all six to be exact, was Sir Kane. The dark man was laughing at them, and seemed to be quite tickled about something.

"Yes, the Officials are on their way here…too bad they won't make it here alive." Kane said, a large grin on his face.

"What do you mean, make it there alive?" Lan yelled, glaring at the man.

"A group of fighter planes are on their way to them as we speak, I do hope your friends know how to swim."

Lan growled at the man, as Kane laughed in his face.

"You won't get away with any of this Kane! The whole world knows you're doing this." Dr. Hikari said, sitting forward in his chair.

"On the contrary doctor, that's just why I'll get away with it. The entire Network is now being devoured by the darkness, and the great Officials are about to be blasted into the ocean. Just who's going to stop me, you?"

"If we have to, then yes!" Lan said.

Kane burst into laughter, taking a short time to calm down. "How noble of you, fighting to save your friends. I do admire your chivalry Lan, but you have no hope of defeating me!"

"Then how about you come out from the shadows and face me you coward!"

"COWARD!" Kane yelled, his face growing dark. "How dare you call me a coward!"

"All you do is hide behind your men, you couldn't fight me if you tried! You rely on them to do everything for you, because your too scared to do it yourself!"

"ENOUGH!" Kane bellowed, causing the group to flinch. "If you are so great, then why don't you come and prove it! I will greatly enjoy watching you, and your friends, squirm under my heel!"

With that the line went dead, and everyone turned toward Lan.

Dr. Hikari sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

"Lan…why do you have such a big mouth…" he said with a chuckle.

"I've had enough of that guy! First he messes with Megaman, then he attacks Demonman and Suki…now he wants to kill Chaud and Zack! I'm not letting him get away with this, he's caused enough trouble!"

"And what do you plan to do?"

"Stop him, no matter what, same plan as always." Megaman said with a smile.

"Mind if we tag along?" Roll asked with a giggle.

"W-What! No way!" Megaman yelled.

"And why not?"

"It's too dangerous!"

"That's not a good reason." Roll said.

"Yes it is, I don't want you to get hurt."

Roll sighed. "Megaman, we promised we'd always be there for each other. We promised to take care of each other, and just like you said to me, I plan on doing that until the end! So you're just going to have to get over it Mega, because I AM coming with you!"

Megaman opened his mouth to argue but simply sighed. Roll was right, as usual.

"…Alright fine, you can come." He said in defeat, causing the pink navi to smile.

The group of humans laughed, and Lan turned toward Tyrell and Lucia.

"Well, you can count us in. You may need our help." Tyrell said with a grin.

The group turned toward the doctor for the last time before rushing out the door. They had to get ready for the fight to come, the final fight.

"BE CAREFUL!" The doctor yelled, jumping up from his chair.

"…This is not a good idea…"


	20. Chapter 20

~Chapter 20: Fight the Odds

"This is not a good idea."

A simple statement that told the truth. First it had been Dr. Hikari who had said it, and now Chaud found himself saying the words, as he turned toward Zack with a sigh.

Zack and Chaud had just received a call from Lan, telling them that their friends were on their way to Kane's laboratory. Not only would it be dangerous, but Chaud found it to be very stupid. As much as he appreciated the help of his friends, they would be more harm than good.

The Officials on the plane had one mission and one mission only. Find Kane and stop him, blow down anything that stands in the way. The darkness that had been released onto the Net had already engulfed every inch of it; it was only a matter of time before Kane's goal of total destruction would be realized.

Zack chuckled and looked toward his friend.

"It may not be a good idea, but having them along would be ideal. Megaman and the others will be able to help us find Specter, and maybe even capture Kane."

"Kane is smart. He's sure to know of any tricks we try to catch him. I don't think this will be a simple capture mission, we will have to fight."

"I don't doubt it. Kane just barely got away last time, but he had people to hold us off then. This time all he has is a few guards, scientists, and navis. Even navis can't stop humans all the time."

"I hope your right." Chaud said with a sigh, noticing that they were coming into Sharo airspace.

One Official stepped forward, exiting the cockpit. He turned toward Chaud and Zack and spoke with no sign of joy, knowing the fight would be a long one.

"We've just arrived in Sharo. We're going to be landing about six miles away from the lab. From there we will form two teams and force our way into the lab from two directions, one from the south to drawn attention and another from the north."

Chaud smirked. "Well, guess it's time for the fight to start…"

Lan Hikari and the rest of the team all arrived in Sharo, having taken a plane from Electopia to Sharo. The airport had been a complete disaster, as people ran about frantically. The Net in the airport had been drenched in darkness, and all the flight plans and information had been wiped clean. The team took advantage of this chaos, and found an Official waiting for them at the airport, sent there by Chaud and Zack.

With everyone loaded onto a plane to Sharo, the team disembarked, landing in Sharo not long after the Officials. Following the trail of their friends Zack and Chaud, the group made their way to Kane's Lab, where they all met on the front lines.

The Officials had parked their vehicles just north and south of the lab, which was seated in a deep valley between two large hill ranges. With the cover from these hills, everyone began to go over plans for just how to attack the lab.

The entire team was seated together around a table, the blueprint map of the lab lying on it. Chaud turned to Zack, who had gotten the information with the help of Crain, and the young man began speaking.

"Alright…according to these schematics the lab is split into three sections, upper, middle, and lower tiers. The upper tier makes up the entrance and three small labs, an elevator leading to the lower tiers. Sir Kane will most defiantly be in his office, which is on the third tier."

"Right." Tyrell said, leaning back in his chair. "And I don't doubt that he'll have traps waiting for us when we go in. Remember last time? The breakaway bridge, fighting every few steps, we're walking right into a trap."

"I know, but it's the only way."

It was Maylu who spoke next, tracing the paths on the blueprint with his finger as she spoke.

"According to this we're going to have to enter through here, pass down two hall ways into a large lab, then take the elevator down to the second tier. Why can't we just take the elevator to the third tier?"

"The elevator that connects the second and third tiers isn't the same, so we'll have to use the opposite elevator here, on the west side of the building."

"But that means we'll have to walk all the way across the middle level!" Lan said, irritated that it was so complicated to get around.

"Yes, and I'm sure that Kane has agents to block our path. Really the design of the lab is great if one wanted to be hidden away past streams of guards and iron doors." Chaud said with a sigh.

"Our only main problem is going to be getting into the main lab on the third tier. It's locked by a large gate, which is held tight by three different keys."

"Do we know where those keys are?" Lucia asked, scanning over the map.

"No, but I would guess that Kane's agents have them. I'm sure we'll face them on the way."

Lan smiled. "Alright, so now that we know how to get in…what do we do about Kane and Specter?"

"Yeah, how do we fight them both?" Roll asked from her PET, worry in her voice.

"Chaud and I, as well as the other Officials, will handle Kane. Lan, Maylu, Lucia, and Tyrell you can all fight Specter. We don't know much about the navi, so all of us are going to have to work together to stop him." Zack said, standing from his chair.

"Protoman and Crain will help guide your navis through the area; they're both programmed with an electronic version of the map."

Lan stood from his chair with a smile. "Is everyone ready?"

"Ready!. Kane's caused enough trouble, we can't let him get away again!." Roll said with a giggle.

"Remember Megaman, we'll fight by you no matter what. You're not alone." Said Demonman, letting out a powerful laugh.

Suki smiled and looked up at Lucia. "I'll help how I can."

Lan turned toward his navi with a weak smile. "What about you Mega?"

"I'm ready Lan…"

"Are you sure? What if Specter tries to control you again like he did back at SciLabs?"

Megaman smiled. "Don't worry Lan, I know just what to do. As long as everyone believes in me and stands against Kane, we can't lose!"

"…Alright then…let's spring the trap…"


	21. Chapter 21

~Chapter 21: Fade to Black

With the plans made, and the teams set, everyone was ready to attack Kane's lab. The attack started with the southern section forcing their way forward, reaching the gates of the lab first. Not far away where Lan and his friends, crouched behind a rock.

The southern team placed explosives around the doorway, falling back just long enough for them to explode. With the door open, they surged forward and took the gate. It was easy, much too easy…no one was fighting against them. Where was the defense force? Did Kane really want them to invade and take him?

Sir Kane stood in the center of the main lab, the black comet shining behind him. He clutched to his walking stick tightly as the room shook from the blast outside. The Officials had arrived, and he couldn't help but smile.

Nearby stood a man in a black suit, a gun at his waist.

"Allow them time to reach the elevator, then being the attack." Kane said with a chuckle.

"Yes sir." The man said, marching toward a control panel nearby.

Kane stood in place, raising a hand to his ear and pressing the button on the communicator hidden by his hair, which had surprisingly grown much more grey.

"Everything is in place Alpha Team, I rely on you Neptune to finish off Lan and Megaman."

"And what of his other friends and the Officials?" The voice asked, belonging to that of Neptune.

"I shall be more than happy to dispose of those fools." Hissed a third voice.

Kane smiled, turning to the large monitor nearby. On screen was Specter, the dark navi swallowing up all the light of the area. With the bat of a bright red eye it was done, and the navi burst into laughter.

Above them, on the first tier, screams could be heard.

The battle had begun.

The Official force slowly made their way across the first tier, checking each nook and cranny of the area for Kane's guards. Once content that the area was clear they moved forward, ready to fight the enemy when they should appear.

As the group neared the elevator a single Official moved forward, holding back his company with a single hand gesture. He walked down a hallway alone, marching up to the elevator and pressing a bright red button. The elevator doors slid open, and the man raised his gun as he stepped inside. It was empty…

With a jerk of his hand the company moved forward, the entire group reaching the middle of the hallway before it happened. A few paintings and portraits littered the walls, and they slid downward revealing small vents riddled with round holes.

Before the group had any time to act, thick purple mist poured out of the vents and filled the air of the hall. As the gas was breathed in it quickly became apparent that it was poisonous. In a great clump, the army turned around and started toward the exit of the hall. As they turned toward the exit they saw a large slab or steel shoot downward, the door locking them inside.

The lone man dived into the elevator, slamming his hand on the down arrow. The doors slowly began to shut, and the army dived forward, each one trying to get to the safety of the elevator. But they were too late, the doors slid shut and the man continued downward.

With a grim expression, and his heart beating like mad, the man lifted his hand to his communicator.

"This is Darius Burgen to Chaud Blaze, can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can hear you." Chaud said, still standing beside Lan and his friends.

"We've reached a bit of a problem sir. The entire force, bar me, has been…taken out."

"What! How?"

"Gas. It seeped in through air vents behind the paintings."

"Where are you now?"

"I'm on the elevator to the second tier sir."

Chaud sighed, breathing a curse under his breath. "Stay there! We're on our way!"

With that Chaud turned to the others, a large sigh pushing out of him.

"…Guess it's our turn, hope we have better luck then them…"

The group moved from behind their hiding place and signaled for the rest of the Officials to follow. As everyone started to move toward the door, Tyrell grabbed Lucia's arm in caution.

"What is it?" Lucia asked in a whisper.

"…Something doesn't feel right. Let's hang back for a minute, we can follow them in afterwards."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Trust me, something is about to happen."

With the path ahead of them open the northern group, lead by Lan and his friends, dashed forward into the building. The white walls and floors of the building where bare, not a single thing flawing their perfect gleam. The lights overhead had been turned out, and the switches didn't work. Instead, orange and red crisis lights spun dully on the ceiling.

Making their way down each hallway the group began to feel more and more uneasy…like they were being watched. As the team made their way into the last hallway the sensation of being watched only grew stronger. There was someone watching them, but who?

"Be on your guard," Chaud said as they reached the middle of the hallway, "It's only a matter of time before our unknown watcher makes an appearance."

Only mere seconds after Chaud had finished speaking did a set of large doors suddenly slam shut behind them, locking them in the hall just as the last group. Acting on instinct, Chaud motioned everyone forward, and clamped a handkerchief across his nose and mouth. Just as Lan and his friends made it to the elevator doors, did a thick purple mist seep into the enclosed hallway.

Chaud slammed his hand onto the elevator controls, and the doors slowly slid open. Diving inside, the group shut the doors behind them just as the gas filled the area. Lan, Maylu, Chaud, and Zack where all safe…but Tyrell and Lucia had stayed behind.

Standing just on the other side of the enclosed hallway, safe from the fumes, where Tyrell and Lucia.

"Was this what you felt?"

"Yeah…Only we're not out of it yet."

A dark laugh filled the air around the two humans, who instantly began searching for the creator of the sound. A small painting on the wall nearby suddenly faded away, revealing itself to actually be a small computer monitor.

On the screen was a new navi, one that neither Tyrell nor Lucia had seen before.

The navi's body was quite different from that of a normal navi. His suit was a deep blue color, but seemed to be made up of interlocking scales…like that of a fish. The scales contained small flakes of green and white, as they made their way around his whole body. His lower half was not the usual legs and feet, but instead a tail of sorts. He had a normal looking face, a long white beard covering most of it. Two bright red eyes stared at the humans from underneath a bright silver crown upon the navis head. In the navis right hand was a trident made from the same silver as his crown, lined in gold and set with bright blue stones.

"You where wise to stay behind, as the fun has just begun." The navi said with a smile.

"Who are you?" Tyrell asked, glaring at the dark navi.

"My name is Neptune, a name you should remember well. For I'll be the one to drown all your friends in an endless sea!"

"What are you talking about?"

The navi snickered. "Oh nothing, just the fact that the elevator will not be stopping on the next floor, but instead on a floor far, far, below. A chamber filled with water."

"What!" Lucia cried.

"When those elevator doors open, a flood of water will come rushing up to meet your friends. But don't worry, they won't suffer long."

Tyrell growled, pulling his PET from his side. "You bastard! I won't let you get away with this!"

Almost at once, both Lucia and Tyrell jacked their PET's into the computer screen. Their two navis ported into the area in front of Neptune, who simply laughed as he saw the navis.

"This will be fun. My name is Neptune; I'm the Admiral of all naval operations by my Masters order. Your foolish attack on our home will end here! Your bodies will make great chew toys for my pets."

In a sudden flash of light, the area began to fill with water and two mechanical grey sharks ported into the area beside Neptune.

The fight had begun…


	22. Chapter 22

~Chapter 22: Tidal Wave

It took only a matter of moments for the area to fill with water. Huge sections of the floor panels where shot upward, as geysers of water barreled up high. The water filled in from all angles, and the battlefield was set for the fight.

Neptune moved gracefully backward, his twin sharks moving forward. Both sharks looked identical; the only mark distinguishing one from the other was a large scar on ones side. It was this scared fish that sped away, after Demonman.

With the water changing the battlefield so much, Demonman and Suki were caught off guard. There was no where left to stand!

In the distance the two navis could see a small platform that was floating atop the water. With great haste they made their way forward, trying to reach the platform. In wide, rapid, strokes the two navis moved toward the platform, both sharks close behind.

No matter how fast the navis swam, the sharks swam faster. They couldn't outrun them, there was no way!

Suddenly Demonman broke left, moving as fast as he could with the shark at his heels. Instead of moving toward the platform he headed farther out to sea, separating himself from Suki.

"Get to land, I have an idea!" Demonman yelled as he broke away from his friend.

"W-Wait! What do I do!" Suki cried, watching as her friend pushed away from her.

Just as Suki pulled herself to safety on the platform, did the great white beast behind her open its jaws and surge forward. With a kick she hit the creature on the end of its nose, pushing it back into the waters around the platform. A dark grin on its face, it simply swam around the tiny island…biding its time.

"Lucia! Send me a weapon." Suki said, gasping for air after her swim.

"What kind?"

"Any kind!"

The young woman searched her pockets for a chip that would be of use, and after a moment pulled one from her pocket. Without even checking to see exactly what it was, she slammed the chip into the slot and sent it straight to Suki.

Suki stood still for a moment, before her buster hand began to glow. When the light had died away a, her hand had transformed into a harpoon gun.

"Nice choice Lucia!" she said with a smile, training her sights on the shark.

"Thanks…We're lucky I guess."

Meanwhile in the distance, Demonman was still pushing his way through the waves. By now he had put a good distance between him and the safety of land, but that was just how he wanted it. He continued swimming for only a moment, before stopping all movement and letting the shark come toward him.

The shark grinned as it closed in on its prey, opening its mechanical mouth wide. Demonman chuckled as it did so, and turned to face it.

"Tyrell, send me a mini-bomb chip!"

Tyrell grinned as he put the chip in, one that he had already selected from his pack.

Only seconds protected Demonman from the jaws of the shark, and he would use every last one. Just as the shark reached to the area near him did his hand begin to glow, the bomb porting into his hand. Another second past as it was downloaded, and yet another as the shark drew closer. The dark navi simply stared at his foe with a grin, waiting until it was fully upon him before tossing the bomb into its wide open mouth.

As soon as he threw the bomb, the navi plunged downward into the artificial ocean, and kicked himself away from the beast. The shark closed his mouth as he moved past where Demonman had been, and turned toward him in confusion. It was only as the bomb had begun to detonate that the poor creature realized his fate. In a brilliant flash of light and smoke the shark was destroyed, leaving only one beast to defeat.

Suki slowly directed her harpoon gun to follow the shark nearby, making sure to keep herself a few seconds ahead of the enemy. Once she had gotten a good distance between her and the target she released her weapon, the large arrow shaped claw busting forward toward the water.

Pushing its way through the waves, the harpoon suddenly jerked as it struck its target. The arrow happened to land right between the eyes of the shark, who seemed to roar in anger as it continued to swim. The chain that connected Suki to the arrow jerked, pulling the tiny navi headfirst into the waves.

Watching all of this with a smile, Neptune let out a bellow of laughter. The sharks where nothing more than distractions, slowly biding the time between now and the elevators descent. All he needed as a few more minutes and it wouldn't matter if they defeated him, for it would have already been too late.

Demonman saw Suki plunge into the waters, and franticly pushed his way toward her. In the moment he got near the shark and its prisoner, he raised his hand into the air above the chain. Tyrell knew just what do to, and without any orders needed he slammed a new chip into the slot.

Demonman's hand morphed into a large flaming sword, and just as his hand came into contact with the chain. The burning blade sliced through the chain like a knife through butter, severing the connection between Suki and the shark.

The great white creature, who had been jerking to keep Suki pulled behind him, suddenly jolted forward after its release. For a few moments it swam around confused, but then quickly circled back toward its prey.

Demonman let out a great sigh, and with a sudden charge pierced his blade through the head of the shark in the same place the harpoon had landed. In a bright flash of light the shark broke away, and the two navis pulled themselves onto land with a powerful cough and wheeze.

Neptune roared in anger as he rose up from under the water, holding the trident over his head. With a grunt, and a rather good amount of force, he threw the trident toward his enemies. The silver spear flew forward, and landed right between the two navis.

"I have had enough of this! I'll destroy you myself!" Neptune bellowed, raising his hands upward into the air.

As his hands drew higher, two large cyclones of water lifted upward as well. The towers of spiraling water spun faster and faster, reaching their fastest as the fishy foe threw them toward his enemies.

Both navis dived off the island just as the pillars of water smashed into their brief sanctuary. With nowhere else to go, they pushed forward to their enemy.

Neptune snapped his fingers, and as he did so his trident returned to his hand. With a powerful downward thrust, he smashed the lance into the waters around him. As if a great quake had just occurred, the waters rose straight upward and forward in a gargantuan wave.

The wave hurtled toward Suki and Demonman, who knew that there was no way to go around it or through it. As they moved side by side they shared a concerned glance, knowing that it very well may be the end…until Suki thought of something.

"Lucia! Tyrell! Send us Tornado Buster Chips!" she yelled, having to do so to keep her voice above the roar of the water.

The two humans obeyed, not knowing what their navis had in mind.

Both navis busters shimmered with light as they morphed into large fans. Pointing the fans directly at the wall of water before them, they both blasted at it with the best charged shot they could. Two horizontal tornados of air blasted forward, pushing through the water and clearing a space just large enough for the two navis as the wall moved past them.

Now safe enough to keep forward, the two navis pointed there, now normal, busters at Neptune. Firing shot after shot, they slowly pushed the navi back due to recoil. Other than pushing him backward they seemed to have no effect, until one shot did something amazing.

Having practiced her aim for quite some time, Suki fired a shot that hit Neptune's trident, sending it spiraling out of his hands and off into the waters nearby. The entire room stopped moving, everyone watching the silver spear piercing through the waters and wedging itself into the floor of the area far below.

Demonman took a deep breath before diving down into the waves, making his way toward the trident. It took only a few moments to reach it, but it felt like hours. Time was against them, they HAD to hurry.

Neptune saw the dark navi plunge downward and suddenly launched himself into the waters. He moved as fast as his fins could take him, but was inevitably too late. As he reached the landing site of his treasure, Demonman spun around with it stuck outward.

The middle prong of the lance prodded in Neptune's face, and the navi let out a deep sigh. The two navis made their way above water, Demonman keeping the lance pressed against his enemy. As the two of them pushed onto land level, Suki was nearby with her buster trained on the fish.

"…It would seem that I have been defeated." He said, his voice echoing around the room.

"It's over Neptune; return the elevator to normal course!" Demonman said.

"Very well…you win."

Neptune snapped his fingers, and a loud screech could be heard.

Inside the elevator, Lan and his friends suddenly slammed to a stop. Then, to their surprise, the elevator moved upward. It passed the floor they had been headed toward, and continued up to the ground floor.

With a grin, Demonman threw himself forward on the spear. In a great roar the trident pierced Neptune's body and the very waters of the room began to shimmer in a blinding light.

"Y-You may have bested me, but the fight is n-nowhere near over. Mars, Jupiter, S-Saturn, and Terra still remain…and m-my Master…"

"If we have to destroy them all we will!" Suki said, pointing her blaster at the man. "We won't let you Kane win."

Neptune chuckled. "I-If you worry f-for Kane's goal, t-then you will really b-be surprised when you…meet…Master…"

Before any more could be said the navi burst into a ray of light and broke away into specs of green data. As he faded, so did the water. Everything connected with Neptune was destroyed in a burst of light.

The two heroes where slowly, and gently, placed on the floor by a strange unseen force.

With their enemy defeated they turned to each other and smiled.

"Are you alright?" Demonman asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Great job you two!" Lucia said a smile on her face.

"…Let's just hope that the others are safe." Demonman said with a grim face.

The two navis jacked out as their operators turned toward the elevator doors. Slowly the two doors slid apart, revealing the rest of the team still inside. Chaud stepped out of the elevator and glanced around, noticing Tyrell and Lucia.

"Hey, you two, let's go!" he said, jerking his hand back toward the elevator.

With a smile the two stragglers made their way into the elevator, pressing the key for the second floor as they walked inside.

So far the fight into Kane's lab had been interesting…but it had just begun.


	23. Chapter 23

~Chapter 23: Blockage

Dashing down the hallways of Kane's lab, the heroes scrambled their way toward each door. Close behind them where a group of guards, stopping ever so often to draw their weapons and fire on the children. One man, clad in the normal suit but with a large gold broach on his chest, yelled as he pointed to the children.

"FIRE! Don't let them escape!"

Thus far, aside from the attack by Neptune, things had been surprisingly quiet in the lab. But that changed as soon as the children stepped out of the elevator onto the lower floor. Seconds after they walked out of the metal elevator did a siren blare around them, large iron doors sliding down from the ceiling slowly.

"Come on! Quickly, this way!" Tyrell yelled, pulling Lucia and Maylu along with him.

The boys all dived into the opening of the door, and quickly burst into a run as yet another door slid shut ahead of them. Again and again they passed these doors, and on the fourth one they heard a clamor of footsteps behind them…it was then that the soldiers showed up.

Clad in black uniforms, and holding frightfully dangerous guns, they chased after the children. Each curve the heroes took, so did the guards. They were bad shots however, as none of the bullets ever seemed to land near the heroes.

With a sudden burst of speed they reached a balcony area, a glass elevator leading downward. The drop wasn't terribly far, and Chaud quickly jumped onto the rail.

"Come on!" he yelled, motioning for the others to follow suit.

"Why don't we just use the elevator?" Maylu asked.

In response to her question a soldier fired his gun, bullets smashing through the glass case like a hot knife in butter. The case shattered, and everyone quickly turned away and ducked to dodge the shards. With a slight smirk Chaud stood again.

"…that's why! NOW JUMP!"

In a single motion the young official barreled over the edge of the rail, and landed on the floor below. One by one everyone started to jump, starting with Tyrell and then moving on to the girls. But when Zack and Lan stood to jump a sudden gunshot spurred them on, both of them diving over the edge with widened eyes.

Everyone had reached the lower section unscathed, and so they made their way forward again. As they passed through a large iron door, which slammed closed behind them, they all stopped. Zack grinned and walked over to the control panel for the door, which rested on the wall nearby. Removing a small pocket knife from his person he unscrewed the screws on the covering, and slashed at the wires inside. The door seemed to groan as it was jammed shut, and everyone let out a sigh.

"That god that's over with…" Lucia said, collapsing to her knees, very much out of breath.

Lan chuckled. "Oh, it just got better…"

The group directed their gaze toward Lan, and then past him to the area ahead of him. The doors to the next elevator where open…but the elevator was gone. The young net battler moved to the doorframe, and pressed the green call button. After a moment he looked down the shaft, to see the elevator was below him…but it wasn't moving.

"The elevator's broke." He said with a sigh.

"Great! Now how do we get down there?" Zack yelled.

"And thanks to Zack we're locked in here now…" Tyrell grumbled.

Zack spun around toward him. "What was that? Would you rather be out there with guns aimed at you! At least in here we're safe!"

"That is until the guards find a way in here!"

"Well excuse me for trying to be helpful!"

Maylu stood listening to all this, and had finally had enough. With a deep breath she let out a scream, causing everyone in the room to flinch.

"ENOUGH!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, stepping into the fight. "If we're going to find a way down to Kane, then you two are going to have to quit fighting!"

The room grew deathly silent a moment, before a deep laugh could be heard around the entire room. Glancing from place to place, each of the children was searching for the origin of the laugh. It became quickly apparent that the laugh was coming from a speaker system hooked to the walls.

"It seems that you've reached a bit of a stone wall, would it?" the voice said, not that of Kane's nor Specters.

"Who's there? What do you want!" Lan yelled.

"What I want is what we all want; who I am is something different. I've watched you all very closely over your adventures, especially you Megaman. It is because of how well I know your powers that I cannot allow you to pass any further."

"Then why don't you come out and fight, instead of hiding!"

The voice growled at the children. "Very well…I'll be the one to put you in your place!"

Lan moved over to the control panel for the elevator and jacked in, sending Megaman into the network. As he readied himself for battle he could hear a loud hissing coming from the door. Spinning around, the others where pushing large crates against the door and trying desperately to hold it back…the door was coming open…


	24. Chapter 24

~Chapter 24: Soaring High

The net area designed specifically for the elevator was quite dimly lit, only a few patches of ground visible in a dull neon red light. At the opposite end of the room, quite a ways from the blue navi who had entered the area, was a large switch. No doubt this was the switch that operated the elevator, jammed by the mystery navi that wished to fight.

Stepping toward one of the patches of light, the rest of the area flashed into light. A loud flapping sound could be heard behind the blue hero, who quickly spun toward it only to find empty space. The sound moved around the room, and then settled behind him once again. This time when Megaman turned he saw his attacker, a large falcon…Jupiter.

Before Megaman could do anything to defend himself a large talon slashed at him, knocking him to the floor. Quickly he scrambled to stand, but found that Jupiter was far quicker. Before the blue navi had a change to act, the large bird slammed into him and sent him sprawling onto the floor yet again.

"Megaman!" Lan yelled, trying to cheer his navi on.

Megaman growled as he stood up. "Lan! I need some help here!"

"Right….Tornado chip in!"

In mere seconds the blue navi's right hand began to glow, busting apart and forming together into a large fan. Charging his energy he fired a powerful blast at Jupiter, just as he was about to attack yet again.

The bird's wing picked up the current of the air, and he was blasted backward. As he was thrown back he kicked his wings into action, spiraling upward into the air. In a burst of speed he took flight, circling the area twice before locking on to Megaman's position. With a great dive the navi's body glowed, and he closed his appendages in on himself, creating a large ball in the air. Just as he was about to slam into Megaman, the hero turned the fan onto his enemy again and sent him reeling.

The falcon crashed onto his back quite a ways from Megaman, and dangerously close to the edge of the area. In a great cry he jumped upward, and pointed his buster toward the blue hero. As he fired a long tunnel of wind blasted toward Megaman, who also fired his own blast of wind at the enemy.

These two tunnels of air clashed in the center of the area, and blasted apart sending powerful gales of air all around. Both navis where thrown backward, but when Megaman jumped up he had a new weapon in tow. Activating the control system he called on the energy around him, but only found three things…the earth of the ground, the air of the battle, and the energy of the network.

With a grin, Megaman called on the energy of the network itself, allowing his body to be overcome by the flood of power…electrical power. His body shifted colors, changing to a bright gold. A large metal guard covered his face, and he wore metal shoulder pads, boots, kneepads, and gauntlets.

Charging his energy before him, a small orb of thunder grew in front of him. As it grew larger and larger bolts of lightning shot out from it, striking various places around the area. Jupiter roared in anger and shot upward into the air, but as he took to the air the blue navi let out a yell, firing the orb into the air.

The orb of energy sailed past Jupiter, and continued upward higher and higher. The large navi glared down at his prey and laughed.

"You missed Megaman!"

Megaman chuckled. "I wasn't aiming for you!"

Glancing upward Jupiter watched as the orb reached its peak height, bursting into a surge of energy that sailed overhead. Large bolts of lightning barreled downward, slamming into the area so hard they turned all they touched into a dark black burn. It was then that Jupiter saw what Megaman had done, in anger he sailed toward the navi, slashing at him with his claws.

Megaman brought his arm up to defend himself, and cried out as the talons sliced through his arm. However this attack was the last thing Jupiter ever did, as a large bolt of lightning came soaring down and blasted right into him. His body jolting and jerking, the falcon fell to the ground screaming.

The falcon chuckled, coughing as he spoke.

"…There….are….only….three now…"

Megaman released the energy from around him, turning back to normal. Holding his arm heavily at his side he ran over to the switch…when it happened.

A sudden cry was heard as a large sword was thrown, as if from nowhere, directly at the blue navi. Missing it by mere inches, Megaman spun toward its origin to find another navi staring at him.

The navi's body was made up of large rings, linked together in a strange form…almost like a toy slinky. The rings spiraled and spun around, forming and linking together to create a new form, this one a large living suit of armor, with sword in one hand and shield in the other.

"I'll kill you for what you've done to Jupiter!" the navi yelled, slamming his sword down onto the ground.

The entire area began to tremor, and Megaman was knocked onto his aft end before he had a chance to act. He watched as the armor moved toward him, surprisingly fast for such a large being, and it was upon him in seconds. Trying as he may his legs wouldn't obey him however, and Megaman was unable to move from its path.

"LAN! HELP!" Megaman yelled, frantically unable to move his legs.

Lan quickly removed yet another chip, slamming it into the slot shakily. "Barrier chip in!"

The armored knight brought his blade down on the blue navi, but was halted suddenly as a bright blue aura encased the hero and repelled the blow. The knight was sent backward a series of steps due to recoil, and roared in anger yet again.

"Who are you anyway!" Megaman yelled, finally regaining control of his legs.

"My name is Saturn! I'm one of the head commanders of this force…and I'm Jupiter's brother!"

The barrier around Megaman slowly faded away, and he had to dash out of the way to miss another swing from the sword. Scrambling onto his feet, the blue hero circled his opponent, firing various shots from his buster. Each shot was repelled by the armor, bouncing away…however one shot did ring true, the shot landed just under where the helmet connected to the breastplate.

"Lan! Send me a bomb!" Megaman yelled, diving out of the way of yet another slice by the knight.

The blue navi ran at his enemy, picking up all the speed he could, and jumped at him. In a quick series of kicks, Megaman propelled himself off of the great armor and kicked his way up higher…just like kicking off a wall. The large knight was unable to reach the tiny navi, due to the sheer size of his hands, and cried out as Megaman tossed the bomb inside him through the gap under the helm.

The bomb exploded, and streams of smoke shot out from all the gaps in the armor. In a great roar he fell to the ground, landing in a crumpled heap of metal….pulling Megaman down with him.

After the dust and debris had settled, Lan starred at his PET in shock. The armor had pinned Megaman underneath as it fell, and the poor navi was trapped.

"M-MEGAMAN!" Lan yelled to his PET, his only answer being silence. A growing fear welled up inside him, and he called again…and again….and again…

The last crate had been pushed over the doorway, and the group was safe from the people beyond. In a gasp the group ran to Lan's side, everyone trying to see his PET screen.

Megaman wasn't responding…

Roll started to panic, staring at Megaman through her PET with shaking eyes.

"Maylu jack me in!"

Following her navis orders, Maylu jacked the pink navi into the network area. Only seconds after she was in did the others jack in, all the navis running to the rubble and starting to clear it away. Pulling large sections of armor and broken earth back, the group found Megaman in a matter of minutes. The blue navi was lying on his back, pinned down by a piece of armor.

Demonman grabbed hold of the armor and pulled it off the navi, who coughed and wheezed for a moment before sitting upright. Roll was at his side in seconds, a worried smile on her face.

"You ok Mega?"

"Y-Yeah…I'm fine." He said with a cough.

A loud grinding sound caused everyone, human and navi, to cringe. Turning their attention to the sound they watched as the elevator rose up to meet them, its doors open and ready for passengers.

In confident silence everyone jacked out, then stepped into the elevator and punched the down arrow. The elevator lurched, then started downward slowly.

It was time to face Kane at last…


	25. Chapter 25

~Chapter 25: Release the Hounds

As the elevator came to a stop on the final floor of the laboratory, Sir Kane sat back in his chair with a sigh. His seat was turned toward the floor below, and he watched through the glass with a dull grin.

"…At last it can all end…" he said, holding a handkerchief over his mouth as a series of powerful coughs took over. The coughing fits lasted a moment or two, and ended as suddenly as they had started.

The computer on Kane's desk glowed dimly, a single dark figure covering its screen…Specter.

The misty navi was watching the man intently, the army of dark spiders standing around their master. All this time Specter had looked at Kane as a master, never looking at him with menace…until now. The darkness from the computer seemed to grow and grow, consuming the light around Kane.

"Come to me children of the damned, come to your eternal salvation. This world is dying by the hand of humans and their technology; I will make you see the error of your ways. I shall cast my judgment upon this land, and cleanse it of all who would harm this world!" Kane said, his final words as a sudden burst of light engulfed him as well as the computer. A roar of laughter could be heard echoing around the glass cased room, only fading as the laugh turned into a roar.

Lan and company made their way out of the elevator, finding themselves in a large computer lab. At least sixty different computers where connected in the room, cords trailing across the floor to a central object in a further room. In the direct center of the room was a giant server, standing like a wall of stone.

The group circled the structure, examining the cords and tubes that hooked to it.

"I'm guessing this is part of Kane's operations." Zack said, lifting one of the cords.

"Where is Kane anyway?" Lucia asked, glancing around the room.

A railed walkway above them led toward the east and west walls, doors leading further into the lab. The walls themselves where lined with computer monitors and even more wires. Each wire trailed to the floor, connected to the server, and then snaked through the walls into the next room.

"He would be in his office…" said a new voice, emitting from the computers around the room.

The group stared at the computer screens, and where greeted with the image of a new navi. The navi looked much like Megaman, but wore a suit of light blue armor with a large slash cut out of his chest on the right side. His eyes where deep sapphire blue, a bit of green hair covering one eye as it poked out from under his helmet.

"Who are you?" Tyrell asked, moving toward a computer.

The navi smiled. "My name is Terra; I'm the highest ranking officer in this force…I've been expecting you."

Zack smirked. "Well if you wanted to be a gracious host you'd lead us to Kane!"

"The door ahead of you is locked, and I hold its key. Sorry to delay you like this, but it is my job."

Lucia and Tyrell removed their PET's and stepped toward the computers.

"Then why don't we just come in there and take it from you?" Tyrell asked.

Terra laughed. "I doubt fighters of your caliber could defeat me!"

"Well someone's rather overconfident." Chaud said, rolling his eyes.

The navi growled. "Enough! I will fulfill my duty, you shall not pass!"

The screens dimmed as the group walked up to them, their PET's at the ready. In perfect unison they jacked their navis in, the entire force porting into the inner areas of the labs network.

In the distance the group of navis could see a large cannon, and a dark navi standing in front of it. As everyone dashed toward it, Megaman held back, crying out for his friends as they moved away.

"NO! It's a trap!" He yelled, having seen a shadow pass by a moment before.

Before anyone could do a thing a large wall of energy shot upward, cutting everyone off from Megaman. Crain and Protoman drew their swords, slashing at the wall as hard as they could. As soon as they touched the energy they were thrown back onto their bums, powerful electric energy coursing through them.

"Megaman! Are you ok?" Roll asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. You all go on ahead; I'll stay here and take care of things."

"But Mega-"Roll objected, being cut off as Protoman steadied his blade toward the cannon.

"Everyone! Weapons at the ready, we have some guests!" he yelled, causing everyone to turn forward.

A large army of black spiders where marching toward them, and one just happened to fire a bomb at them which exploded only yards away. The force was moving so fast it would only be a matter of time before they slammed into the navis, washing over them like a wave on rock.

The men stepped to the front, steadying themselves for the fight. When Roll and Suki tried to step forward, Protoman held them back.

"Stay behind us, you can fight from behind."

"Why? Because we're girls?" Roll said, her voice slightly irritated.

"That and, Roll, you don't really have that powerful of a weapon."

Roll glared at Protoman and pushed past him, walking a few steps toward the army of black spiders. Taking her own time, letting the army get closer to her, she raised her hands into the air. With one hand she gripped at an unseen item, pulling back with her other. As she made the motion a bow appeared in her hands, loaded with a bright gold arrow. In one quick motion she drew back and fired the shot, watching as it hit a spider directly in the center of its head, killing it in one shot.

She fired off six more shots, in quick succession, killing each virus she hit. As she drew for the next one, the men dashed forward and began firing on the viruses. Protoman passed by her, and smiled at her.

"Guess you proved me wrong." He said with a smirk, continuing past her.

Suki walked up to Roll's side and smiled. "Good shot Roll."

Roll giggled. "Thanks, Mega's been teaching me."

On the other side of the wall, Megaman had gotten a sword for his choice weapon. Not long after his friends had took note of the viruses, did Megaman's fight start. Terra was attacking him.

The green and blue navi also had his own sword, and the two fighters where slowly pushing each other back on the stage as they clashed blades. Each time Megaman would swing, Terra would block. They seemed to be in perfect sync, unable to get a hit in on one another. It wasn't until Terra had pushed Megaman back to the edge of the arena that he took on an advantage.

Terra grinned at him, diving at his enemy.

Megaman dodged the blow, falling over the edge of the area and holding on by one hand. He started to pull himself up, but Terra quickly slammed his foot onto the navis hand. The blue navi yelped as the force of the man's boot slammed into his hand, and he started to fidget.

"Wow Megaman, I would have though your death would be a little more entertaining than this." Terra said, disappointed. "But don't worry; I'll make it quick for you."

The green haired navi drew back his blade, and thrust it forward. Just as he started forward, Megaman released his sword and grabbed hold of Terra with his now free hand. Pulling downward, Terra lost his balance, and pitched forward over the edge. As he fell he lashed out with his blade, piercing Megaman's leg. However, this was the final thing that the man did, as he clutched toward Megaman for safety. The blue navi slammed his other foot downward, knocking Terra away from him…and pushing him down…down….down….

Megaman cried out in pain, causing Roll to glance backward for just a moment. Seeing her friend with a sword into his leg Roll screamed his name. This was the last thing the little pink navi did, as a black shadowy navi stood up behind her and struck her over the head. He hit her hard, and she fell to the ground unconscious. With a dark chuckle, the black shadow wrapped itself around Roll and sank into the floor, gone from sight.

Roll had just been kidnapped!


	26. Chapter 26

~Chapter 26: In the Shadows

Standing side by side, the navis pushed against the wall of darkness that surged at them. Spiders, their red eyes hungry, lashed out at them again and again. Each time one came within range the navis would fire bullets, kick, punch, and slice at it with whatever they had.

The fight had started out on their side, but quickly the spiders had surrounded them. They marched forward further and further, an endless sea of darkness as far as the eye could see. Nothing could hold them back, nothing could stop them.

Further behind the dark spiders, Megaman was still clinging to the ledge by one hand. A small mist of data seeped out from his leg, where Terra's sword had pierced into him. The most painful part of the brief fight was the fact that the sword, which had been attached to Terra's arm, was now sticking out of Megaman's leg…the rest of Terra's body torn to shreds far below.

Pulling as hard as he could, Megaman slowly began to lift himself back up to the ledge. He couldn't move his leg, due to the enormous pain from the blade. Eventually he pulled himself up, panting as he did so.

"Megaman! Are you alright?" Lan asked worriedly.

Megaman cringed. "F-For the most part….I can't even more my leg….can you do anything about it?"

"Roll could heal you….where is she by the way?" Lan asked, turning toward Maylu.

Maylu's face darkened. "…I thought you knew. One second I could see her, then the spiders surrounded everyone…and I kinda looked away a minute."

A deep laugh filled the air in the cyberworld, causing all the navis to glance around a moment.

"Looking for someone?" asked the voice, a black shadow appearing in the air overhead.

The army of spiders quickly stepped backward, calming themselves. The battle was over…at least for now. Everyone, including the spiders, cast their eyes upward toward the shadow. The shadow had taken on a form; the form of Megaman himself, only a deep violet colored mist flowed out of and surrounded the navi.

Slowly he descended to the ground, the barrier between the two areas lowering. At his side was Roll, her mouth tapped shut and her hands bound behind her back. The man had his right arm wrapped around her, a silver knife at the pink navis throat.

"ROLL!" Megaman yelled, forcing himself up. Upon putting pressure on his leg he quickly collapsed, causing Roll to cry out.

The dark navi laughed, his bright red eyes taking in the scene around him.

Demonman and Crain ran at him, their weapons at the ready. Just as they got close to him a sudden barrier shot up and blew them backward.

"Let her go!" Megaman and Protoman yelled in unison, the later dashing toward the barrier and slicing at it with his blade. Each hit simply reflected off the barrier, causing the invisible dome to fade into vision and shimmer slightly.

The black navi burst into laughter, his voice echoing around the area. He spoke slowly…his mouth not moving, due to the fact that he had none.

"Your compassion is simply too funny to watch. If I had known putting her in harm's way would cause you all to act this way I would have done it a long time ago!"

Megaman slowly stood up, putting all his weight on his opposite leg.

"Specter! You bastard, what do you want with Roll!"

Specter turned toward Megaman slowly, pulling Roll with him.

"I want not a thing. Aside from completing my objective, which curiously enough involves all of you…dead."

"What are you after anyway! Why are you doing this?" Suki cried, running forward to her friends.

"What am I after, you ask…I am after nothing but my right!"

"Your right? What right?"

"The right to LIVE!" Specter yelled, floating into the air carrying Roll with him. "I was once the most powerful being in the world, but I was sealed away for all eternity…sealed in that damn temple. I was locked there for three hundred years, unable to leave, unable to have a life. It was by fate that I was released…by fate that I happen upon your world."

"Our world? Just who the hell are you?" Crain asked, glaring at the shadow.

"I was once a powerful king; I ruled my entire world by pure fear. But at the peak of my power, the people revolted. I was attacked, struck down by the people. They used powerful crystals to absorb my energy, and locked me away inside my own crystal…which they buried in a temple. Years past, hundreds of uneventful years…until it happened. A great cataclysm fell upon the world, shattering the planet itself. The crystals that held my power, and myself, where cast into space, along with the rocky remains of my planet. We traveled, as a giant meteor, around space…until we happened to get locked onto the gravity of Earth. Every so many years we would draw close, and pieces of the meteor were ripped down onto the world…"

Megaman stared in shock. "Wait…you mean to tell us that Haley's Comet, the comet that causes the Star Festival, is actually the remains of a planet!"

"Exactly." Specter said with a chuckle. "We simply circled your planet for a few years, but one year the crystals that held my power…and the one that contained my own soul, where ripped away and cast down onto your planet."

"…The Crystal Comets…." Megaman whispered.

"Not long after we fell where we discovered, each crystal being taken away. The crystal that contained me was taken to this very laboratory, where I was studied by Kane and his people. During the study pieces of my crystal where broken apart and analyzed by the computers…overtime my energies grew as the crystal seal was broken. It was only a matter of time before I was freed. Once I had my power back however, I was bound to where my power lied…inside the computer. The energies from the crystals had seeped into the electronics, and I was given life once more…as Specter."

The group of navis all stared at him as he floated overhead, both the navis and their operators stunned.

"…Kane was the one who freed me, and the fool thought he could control me! Quickly I showed him that it was no so, and I learned that in this form…I could control this, Network, itself. I attacked Kane and badly burned him, among other things…He begged me to aid him in his own quest to take control of the world, and I saw it as a perfect opportunity for life once more. I agreed to help him, and created the navis you have faced thus far…Pluto, Venus, Mercury, Terra, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Mars. Together we worked with Kane to accomplish two goals, allowing Kane to reach his own…and finding a new body to house my spirit. The body you see now is only a spirit form; created from my energies…I lack a true physical form, for now at least. That is why I picked to fight you all, especially you Megaman. Your body is similar to what my own looked like in the past, and I plan to use your body to resurrect myself."

Megaman's eyes widened. "W-What!"

"You leave Megaman alone!" Protoman yelled, as he and the others ran over to their friend and surrounded him.

Specter chuckled, throwing Roll down at them. Crain and Demonman caught her, knocking themselves to the floor.

"And who are you to stop me? You may have defeated my children…well, all except Mars, but you cannot defeat me!"

Megaman starred directly at Specter, looking the shadow in the eyes.

"Just try me. I will stop you Specter! After all you've done, all the terror you've caused…I can't let you win!"

Specter seemed to smirk, as he floated away from the navis and past the spider horde. As he moved further into the network his "pets" followed him quickly. With a dark laugh, his voice echoed back to them…his final words before the fight.

"Then come…come and embrace your death!"


	27. Chapter 27

~Chapter 27: Specter, Lord of Mirrors

A loud bang in the real world revealed the door leading into the next room had been opened, calling the children in for the final battle. But no one was paying attention to the door, they where all paying attention to their navis…particularly Megaman.

Suki and Crain where knelt at the blue navis side, using the power from the heal chips they had been sent, to mend their friends wounded leg. The others, Demonman and Protoman, where untying Roll. Everyone worked in silence as their operators spoke.

"I can believe this…Specter is from…another planet?" Chaud said, still in disbelieve.

"So the energy in those comets that Dark Aero had wanted…it was energy that came from Specter." Maylu said, beginning to realize what was going on.

"Do you think that Kane knew, about the energy coming from Specter?"

"It doesn't matter…" Megaman said suddenly. "I don't care who he is, what he is, or how he got here. I'm just going to make sure he doesn't leave this place…ever."

Demonman chuckled. "I'm the same as you Megaman. He's caused enough trouble, not to mention all the help he's been giving Kane."

"Yeah, for all we know it was Specter who's been running things…not Kane." Protoman said, cutting the last bond away from Rolls hands.

Megaman turned his attention to his pink friend, and he smiled at her. "You alright?"

"Yeah…I'm fine." Roll said with a tiny blush.

Suki and Crain stepped back from Megaman as they finished their work. With a confident smile they looked to their blue friend, who then started moving his leg. It moved quite smoothly, and there wasn't any pain at all.

"Well? How is it?" Suki asked.

"Good as new! Thanks!" Megaman said with a smile.

A loud explosion in the next area caused all the navis to look onward. The area where Specter had left too was across a large gap, there was no way to get there from here. The navis all glanced up at their operators, who quickly jacked them out.

Dashing into the next room everyone gathered around a large glass case in the center of the room. A dark black comet was inside, deep violet mist pouring out of it. With just one glance they knew what it was, Specter's crystal.

A laugh caused everyone to look upward, up toward a room encased in glass. Most of the glass had been broken out, and the room was in ruins. Standing in the middle of all the ruin was Sir Kane, glaring down on the children.

"Kane!" Zack yelled, stepping forward. "You got away from us once, but you have nowhere to run this time!"

Kane smirked. "And why would I run?" he asked. His voice was odd, warped and distorted to sound like something out of a monster movie. A dull mist seemed to glow off his clothes…the same mist that covered Specter.

Stepping forward, the man stood on the very edge of the floor. "I have no reason to run…because I have nothing to fear. The power I have no, the weapons I have at my disposal…all I have need to do is press one button, and every inch of your Network will shut down forever. The armies of darkness have already covered every inch of the net, all that remains…is the kill order."

"Not if we stop you first!" Lan yelled, stepping forward.

Kane burst into a roar of laughter and jumped down from his perch. He landed nimbly in front of them, jumping from a height that would at least make one cringe.

"As I said, I have great power on my side now…no longer can I be harmed by simple beings such as you."

"Oh yeah?" Tyrell yelled, running at the man.

As he punched out with his fist the older man in black quickly dodged at the last second, moving at an alarming speed. Tyrell was caught off guard, and Kane slammed his arm into the back of the man's neck sending him to the floor in a crumpled heap.

"Tyrell!" Lucia yelled, running over to her friend.

Kane laughed, stepping to the side. "Now then…why don't you all just give up? We can end this right now…"

Lan smirked. "You're right; we can end this right now."

Taking out his PET, Lan quickly moved toward a computer and jacked into it. All of his friends did the same, all the while Kane watched with a grin.

"It won't matter what you do, you can't stop me!"

Running into the area, Megaman and his friends got a firsthand look at just what had caused the explosion from earlier…a large canon sat in the center of the area. The cannon was dark black, lined in strange neon orange. Painted on the side of the canon were a few letters, spelling out MARS.

It took just a second for Megaman to realize that this cannon was the very same cannon that had been fired by E.N.D. when he had been taken there by Tec. According to what Specter had said, this cannon was one of his creations…one of his children.

A dark shadow floating over the canon drew everyone's attention. The shadow slowly floated down to the ground in front of the navis, shifting shapes again and taking the form of Crain this time.

"I was beginning to get antsy. I thought you'd never show up." Specter said with a chuckle.

Megaman pointed his buster at the navi. "This ends now Specter!"

The dark navi glared down on his foes. "Yes…it ends…everything ends now. Once you are dead, and your body is my own, everything will end! I hope you said your final goodbyes, because this place shall be your tomb!"

Floating into the air the dark navi clapped his hands together, causing a sudden gust of wind to blow across the area. The wind grew and grew, bringing pitch dark clouds all over the area. In a matter of seconds everyone and everything became lost in a sea of black smoke.

"H-Hey! I can't see!" Demonman yelled, glancing around frantically.

Suki cried out suddenly, and Protoman jumped backward. "Sorry! I thought you where Specter!"

Megaman looked around the area frantically, trying to pick Specter out of the darkness. He could see something moving and he dashed at it, but suddenly lost his balance and fell to the floor. A loud laugh could be heard as the shadow moved over slightly, now standing right in front of Megaman.

"Can't fight what you can't see, eh Megaman?" he said with a grin.

Megaman jumped up and ran at the navi, who quickly broke into a cloud of smoke.

"Damn it! I can't see a thing!"

Lan quickly shot a chip into his PET, and Megaman smiled as his hand turned into a fan once more.

Charging up all his energy into the fan he blasted a wide shot into the mist, causing it to part as the wind blew through. Standing in the center of the smoke was Specter, and since he was in plain view everyone had a chance to attack. In one single moment everyone fired a shot directly at Specter, hitting him and knocking him backward.

Protoman, Crain, and Tyrell all ran toward Specter to strike another hit, when a huge barrier shot up and knocked them backward. They started to fall back onto the ground, but as they fell backward the floor tiles suddenly where covered with a pitch black hole. The three navis fell back into the holes, and where gone from sight in an instant.

"NO! GUYS!" Megaman yelled, dashing over toward the floor tiles.

A female scream caught Megaman's attention, and as he looked up he watched as both Suki and Roll where engulfed in similar holes and pulled downward. He ran as fast as he could, and grabbed hold of both girls' hands as they were pulled under…but it was no use. The holes closed themselves shut, and left the blue navi alone with Specter.

The blue navi jumped up and glared at Specter, who rose into the air slightly.

"Bring them back!" he yelled.

Specter simply laughed. "You're in my world now Megaman and you'll play by my rules. Now then, let's have some fun."

The navi suddenly burst into a dark black cloud, a shining sword falling to the ground where he once was. As Megaman took up the blade a path of floor tiles faded into view, leading to a round arena overhead. Jumping from tile to tile he made his way up toward his enemy.

_I will stop you Specter…you just made sure of that._


	28. Chapter 28

~Chapter 28: The Essence of a Hero

As Megaman landed on the round platform the stair behind him faded away, blocking his exit. The round platform wasn't truly round, but more of a hexagon. A large square section had been removed from the center. At each corner of this section was a tall statue of a knight, his sword pointed upward. Specter was floating above this square hole, holding a long black sword that glowed a dull blue. He had now taken on the form of Megaman again.

"SPECTER!" Megaman yelled, running toward the man.

Specter floated down and stood on top of a statue.

"You are persistent, aren't you Megaman."

"Let my friends go!"

"If you want them back you'll just have to kill me."

"Gladly…." Megaman said, jumping up at the dark version of himself.

Moving out of range, Specter floated over the hole once more. Raising his sword over his head he charged a small amount of energy into it, and upon slicing it caused a large wave of energy to come out of the blade in the direction he had swung.

Megaman dived out of the way just in time, the blast of energy missing him by mere inches.

"Why don't you come down here and fight you coward!"

Specter smiled. "I don't need to. I could destroy you at any time."

"Then why haven't you?"

"I've been testing you…seeing just how long your body can hold out. The strong you are physically, the stronger I'll be when I take your body as my own."

Megaman steadied his blade. "Keep dreaming, I don't plan on losing to you or anyone!"

Charging his power yet again, Specter created a small orb of energy at the end of his sword. As he swung the blade the orb hurtled toward his enemy, who quickly sliced at the orb to block it. To Megaman's surprise the energy bounced back at Specter, who was hit by it suddenly.

Crying out in pain, Specter hung in the air limp for a moment before coming back to his senses. Snapping his fingers quickly, a few floor tiles began to shutter and fall away. Megaman happened to be standing on one as it began to shake, and he quickly dived to a safe one.

Just as before, Specter threw an orb of energy at the young navi, who deflected it with his sword. They continued to bounce this energy back and forth from each other, until it hit Specter for a second time. As the dark navi floated there helplessly, Megaman knew he had a perfect chance to finish him off…but how?

Quickly he ran over to one of the statues and sliced the sword out of its hands. With good aim he threw the stone blade at Specter, who it hit spot on. The dark navi was pushed backward a tiny bit, and he quickly turned toward Megaman with a dark glare.

Specter tossed his sword down onto the ground and drew his hands upward sharply. As he did the area began to dim, and a huge spike shot up from the floor tiles.

"The Control System!" Megaman exclaimed, diving out of the way as his foe tossed floor tiles at him.

"How do you think Kane made it? I gave him a portion of my power!"

Megaman ran and jumped from tile to tile, making his way around the area to dodge each spike.

"Alright then…you want to play, then let's play…" Megaman whispered, coming to a stop.

Closing his eyes he called on the powers of the Control System, brining the energy around him into himself. As the powers collected inside him he suddenly cried out, and Specter began to laugh. A dark mist began to flow from Specter toward Megaman…and then into him.

"W-What's going on!" Megaman cried his body in enormous pain.

"The Control System calls upon the power of elements and spirits around you to give you power. In case you didn't realize Megaman, I am a spirit!"

Fighting against the energy flowing into him, Megaman tried to push Specter out and away…but it was no use. Megaman's body began to change, shifting once more to that form he had taken the night he fought with Venus…his dark form, the one he promised to never use again.

At first he fought against the overwhelming dark energy…but in the end he gave into it, letting it take over his entire body. Specter watched this transformation with a grin, floating down onto the ground nearby.

When the transformation was over Specter looked over his opponent for a moment. Pure dark energy coursed through his body, and even echoed off of him. With a wide grin the black shadow stared down at Megaman.

"Come forward…child of darkness."

Megaman, completely engulfed in the shadows, stepped forward slowly.

"…Kneel..." Specter bellowed, and the navi before him complied without a word.

"…Who do you serve?" Specter asked, raising his head high.

Megaman remained silent, and Specter glared down at him.

"…I said, who do you serve?"

"I serve no one." Megaman said with a smirk.

In a flurry of motion, Megaman launched himself at Specter and pinned him down to the ground. The living shadow faded into the ground and moved away from Megaman, who quickly jumped up and followed the black lines that showed where he was.

As Specter began to rise up from the ground again, Megaman picked up a nearby sword and sliced at the navi. The hit landed, slicing a large gash on the shadows arm before he could block against it. With a powerful bellow he kicked Megaman, sending him sprawling onto the floor.

"You little bastard! You thought you could kill me with my own energy? You may be powerful thanks to the Control System but remember, it's because of ME you have this power! Without my power you would be nothing….you are nothing….nothing but a parasite living off of my energy!" Specter cried, kicking Megaman while he was lying on the floor.

"All of you navis, and humans, are nothing but parasites! You feed off of the world, off of each other…now I see why Kane wanted you all dead. I'd be doing everyone a favor by killing you."

Megaman chuckled. "You really don't get it do you?" he asked, continuing to laugh.

Specter bent low over the navi. "Get what?" he whispered.

"We fight for each other because we love each other. We work together, human and navi. We feed from one another yes, but we create bonds by doing so that make us all stronger! We form friendships, families, we grow in numbers and in power…and we give back to the world as we do so. The more we grow the stronger we become, and that is why you are so weak Specter."

Specter growled, stepping backward as Megaman stood up. "Weak! How dare you!"

"You are weak…Just think about it, without a body YOU are a parasite! YOU live off of Kane; YOU cower behind your smoke and mirrors! YOU are nothing but a shadow, a ghost, a fake!"

As Megaman stood, and slowly began walking toward Specter, his body began to shimmer and glow with a strange white light. At first it was nothing…but it grew brighter, and brighter, until it shone through the darkness around the dimply lit area like an artificial sun.

Each step Megaman took he grew brighter, and pieces of his dark form began to fall away like dust. As his darkness faded away, astonishingly, so did Specter.

"Y-You…who are you to call ME a parasite!" Specter cried, halting his movement as he found that he was now pressed up against the last floor tile before the large hole.

Megaman smiled, his body bursting into a bright blinding light.

"My name is Megaman, and this is MY world!" Megaman cried, kicking out with his leg.

His boot landed squarely on Specter's chest, and the light washed over the shadow in an instant. As he fell backward, screaming in pure agony, the light grew and grew…until he vanished in a cloud of light, small pieces of his dark form breaking away like dust. The navi spoke only one more set of words as he faded into nothing…words that echoed around the entire area.

"Your world Megaman, is a world of untruths…a world….o-of the damned….one day you will be judged, and one like myself s-shall….return…"

Megaman watched the dark navi fade into light, and felt the white light ease out of his own body.

"…And when they do…I'll be there to knock them back down…"

A large beam of white light shot upward from where Specter's body had once been, sailing high into the sky. As it continued upward its power grew, and grew. When it reached its peak it exploded, a large circular wave of light echoing off from it in all directions.

The wave of light sped away from one area to the next, and everything it passed created by Specter faded into dust. It passed through the Sharo network, breaking the spider viruses into dust. This beam of light continued on, and on, cleansing the entire network of the darkness.

In ACDC Town the light destroyed the spiders, casting away the dark mist all around. Each navi that had been destroyed by the spiders returned, fading back into reality in the same white light. This was the same as every other place around the world, until every inch of the planet had been restored to normal.

Once the light had restored the world it collapsed back on itself, the ring casting itself back to its origin at an alarming speed. As it grew together overhead it hurtled downward in an orb of light, driving itself directly through the canon below. The large canon creaked and groaned as it was torn apart, it too fading into dust.

Megaman watched this all happen with a smile. As the orb of light finished destroying the canon it rose upward once more, moving toward Megaman. Staring into the orb, the blue navi cried out as the light pierced through his body.

This was the last thing he saw…as he fell to the ground unconscious.


	29. Chapter 29

~Chapter 29: All Good Things Must End

Laughing…that's the first sound that graced Megaman's ears after a very long time. The second sound came from himself, his own groaning as he tried to sit upward and open his eyes. In a large amount of pain he fell back onto his back, realizing he was lying on a bed.

_Where am I?_ Megaman thought for a moment, before thinking something more. _Why don't I just open my eyes and find out…_

Letting his eyes adjust to the light, Megaman saw a pink figure leaning over him.

"R-Roll?" he asked, still waking up.

The pink blur smiled. "Hey Mega, how do you feel?"

"Like hell, but what else is new." He said with a chuckle, the pink navi helping him into a sitting position.

He was in Dr. Hikari's lab again, his friends standing around him smiling. At first Megaman simply smiled at them…then the memory of seeing them get pulled under returned to him.

"Hey! Guys, you're back!" he yelled happily.

"Yeah, after you beat Specter we showed up right where we had been standing…almost like nothing had ever happened." Crain said, leaning on his sword.

"You should know you can't get rid of us that easy Mega." Roll said with a giggle.

Megaman wrapped his arms around Roll in a sudden hug, surprising the small navi slightly. After a moment of shock she wrapped her own arms around him, letting herself go into his arms. The two hugged for a minute, until a cough overhead came to their attention.

Looking upward Megaman could see his human friends looking down on him with smiles.

"Hey guys! We did it!" Megaman yelled.

"No Mega, you did it." Maylu said with a smile. "It's because of you that our navis are back and the net was restored. YOU killed Specter."

Megaman smiled. "No…it was all of us. We did it together."

Demonman stepped forward. "What do you mean?"

"When I was turning dark, and Specter was taking control of my body….I heard voices, your voices. They kept on calling my name, telling me not to give up…to stay strong. I listened to your voices, and that's what pulled me back so fast. Before I knew it I was glowing with light and Specter was cowering."

"That white light you had around you was a new Control Form." Dr. Hikari said from above. "It was created by an overpowering sense of hope and love. If indeed you heard everyone calling out for you, than it was indeed by their hands that you gained the power to defeat Kane and Specter."

Megaman sat still a moment, before looking around quickly. "What about Kane? What happened to him?"

Lan looked down at his navi with a smile. "Don't worry Megaman; the Officials took care of him. After you beat Specter, Kane passed out. He grew really sick from his exposure to Specter's powers, but the Officials took him to the hospital and he's resting fine…in prison."

"And Specter, what of him and E.N.D.?"

"Gone. Wiped out by that light, along with everything Specter created. All that remains of E.N.D. is the old laboratory." Chaud said with a smirk. "So I'd say you did a good job Megaman."

Megaman sighed, looking around at his friends.

"Now…we need a vacation."

After the fight with E.N.D., Sir Kane was taken to the hospital to recover from his wounds, inflicted upon him by his exposure to Specter's dark energy. After being healed up he was taken to prison, where he will live out the rest of his days.

The lab in Sharo was bombed shortly afterward, destroying the last traces of E.N.D. However, after going through the files kept in Kane's office, the instructions for a powerful set of cyber, and real world, laser canons where found. These files led to the creation of a new canon, named SYPHER.

Using SYPHER, the governments of the world unanimously agreed to destroy Haley's Comet, which no longer circles the planet. Specter's comet, as well as all the other Crystal Comets, where made sure to be destroyed. Extensive scans where done to make sure the energies where gone forever.

Peace was quickly returned to every inch of the land, and everyone went on to live their lives.

Tyrell, who had made sure his sister had stayed away during the E.N.D. incident, was reunited with his sister. The two of them, as well as Lucia and her family, moved to Electopia, where they bought permanent homes. Thanks to living so close by, the whole gang of friends where always close by.

Zack returned to Netopia, and was promoted upon his return. A promotion meant more work, but Zack was happy to have it. Thanks to his high position he was THE person to get in touch with for all Netopian matters, and he got to work closely with Chaud and the officials of Electopia often.

Dr. Hikari was able to study the Control System further, and found even more useful ways for it. Having made many upgrades to the system he tried to install them in Megaman, who declined and in fact made the doctor remove the program from him completely.

Lan and Maylu returned to their normal lives in ACDC Town, and where able to attend the dance at the school…together.

Was this a small act of compassion for each other, or just because of their navis getting together? Speaking of which, Megaman asked Roll as his date to the dance, which was no surprise to anyone. To this day the two navis are "together", and consequently so are their operators.

At last peace had returned…at least for now.

Just as he vowed at Specters death, Megaman fought to destroy any darkness that threatened the world…or, of course, his love Roll.

Time went on, and the peace was sustained. And just as life goes on, time always echoing above it, so did a promise made between a young man and his love…a promise of protection and love.


End file.
